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This  book  is  due  on  the  date  indicated  below 
and  is  subject  to  a  fine  of  FIVE  CENTS  a 
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LIFE,    LETTERS,    AND    WORKS 
OF    LOUIS    AGASSIZ 


jpm 


Louis    AcASbiz 


LIFE,   LETTERS,   AND   WORKS 


OF 


LOUIS   AGASSIZ 


s|f 


BY 


JULES    MARCOU 


WITH   ILLUSTRATIONS 


Vol.  I 


MACMILLAN    AND    CO. 


AND    LONDON 


I896 


All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,   1895, 
By  MACMILLAN  AND  CO. 


Norixrooti  Iprrss 

J.  S.  Cushing  &  Co.  — Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


PREFACE. 

More  than  twenty  years  have  passed  since  the  death 
of  Louis  Agassiz,  and  although  many  biographies  were 
published  directly  after  his  death,  no  true  life  of  him 
has  yet  appeared :  nearly  all  have  been  too  eulogistic, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  some  rather  severe  strictures 
and  criticisms  have  incidentally  appeared  in  articles 
purporting  to  give  the  life  of  some  of  his  associates, 
or  dealing  with  some  special  questions  of  natural  his- 
tory. Agassiz  occupied  too  large  and  important  a  place 
in  natural  history  not  to  have  left  both  a  certain  num- 
ber of  critics  and  a  larger  number  of  enthusiastic  ad- 
mirers ready  to  see  in  him  only  faults  or  perfection. 
Truth  lies  between  the  two.  As  one  of  the  reviewers 
of  Agassiz's  life  by  his  wife  says :  "  The  true  history 
of  Agassiz  has  not  yet  been  written." 

To  meet  this  want,  I  have  made  during  the  last 
twenty  years  a  large  collection  of  material  in  the  form 
of  letters,  recollections  of  friends  and  contemporaries, 
and  rare  pamphlets,  with  the  design  of  presenting  to 
the  public  the  man  himself ;  his  origin,  his  character, 
his  public  life,  his  private  life,  his  passions,  his  weak- 
nesses, his  faults,  his  errors,  his  genius ;  what  he  did 
and  what  he  left  undone  ;  above  all,  to  put  him  in  his 


vi  PREFACE. 

place,  in  a  true  light,  in  correct  perspective,  with  its 
lights  and  shadows,  in  the  field  of  the  history  of  natural 
science. 

I  have  tried  to  speak  of  him  uninfluenced  by  the  dis- 
cordant voices  which  have  celebrated  his  merits  without 
discretion,  or  demolished  his  reputation  without  meas- 
ure. I  lis  faults  were  small,  while  his  genius  was  great. 
•  Son  envergure  immense  allant  d'un  bout  a  l'autre  du 
ciel  scientifique,"  as  was  said  also  of  Humboldt  and 
Cuvier. 

I  enjoyed  his  friendship  during  almost  thirty  years, 
being  one  of  the  few  men  to  whom  Agassiz  half 
unbosomed  himself ;  and  I  am  the  last  survivor  of  the 
small  band  of  European  naturalists  who  came  to  Amer- 
ica with  him.  My  admiration  of  the  man  is  not  con- 
cealed ;  but  I  have  had  constantly  in  view  the  truth,  and 
have  tried  to  be  just,  not  only  towards  him,  but  also 
towards  all  those  who  were  more  or  less  connected  with 
him  during  his  scientific  life. 

In  the  thought  of  many,  a  man  of  genius  ought  to 
be  perfect ;  and  consequently  when  errors,  mistakes, 
and  faults  appear,  it  is  difficult  to  accept  them  and 
bear  them  with  equanimity  and  indulgence.  But  we 
must  be  generous,  and  make  a  fair  allowance  for  human 
weakness,  even  in  a  man  of  genius,  and  especially  in 
a  man  of  genius. 

Agassiz  kept  up  all  his  life  a  very  large  correspond- 
ence, either  directly,  or  when  too  busy  or  in  ill  health, 
by  dictation.  In  Neuchatel  he  wrote  at  least  five  let- 
ters daily,  not  only  to  naturalists,  savants  in  general, 
and    to    his    relatives,    but    also   to    other   friends,   and 


PREFACE.  vii 

even  statesmen  and  historians  like  Thiers  and  Guizot  in 
France,  and  later  to  Dom  Pedro  II,  in  Brazil.  The  num- 
ber of  his  letters  is  enormous,  and  until  1842  he  kept 
copies  of  them  all.  I  know  of  one.  of  his  correspond- 
ents who  received  more  than  one  hundred  letters  from 
him.  To  choose  among  them  is  not  an  easy  task.  Mrs. 
Agassiz,  in  the  life  of  her  husband,  has  given  a  certain 
number  (about  ninety),  selecting  more  especially  those 
addressed  to  Agassiz's  mother,  father,  and  brother,  and 
to  some  well-known  men  of  science,  philosophers,  phil- 
anthropists, and  politicians ;  besides  giving  letters  writ- 
ten to  Agassiz  by  naturalists  like  Humboldt,  Cuvier, 
Buckland,  Sedgwick,  Lyell,  etc.  Unwilling  to  repeat 
what  has  been  already  so  well  done  by  Mrs.  Agassiz, 
my  quotations  are  limited  to  letters  of  Agassiz, 
addressed  to  practical  naturalists,  his  contemporaries, 
working  on  kindred  subjects.  To  see  and  appreciate 
the  influence  exerted  by  Agassiz  on  the  progress  of 
palaeontology,  geology,  and  the  glacial  question,  it 
is  important  to  show  his  impressions  at  the  very 
moment  when  he  received  them  in  the  course  of  his 
studies. 

I  have  received  much  information,  and  copies  of  let- 
ters and  notes,  from  persons  or  families  formerly  in 
correspondence  with  Agassiz.  I  beg  them  to  receive 
my  thanks  ;  and  I  have  especially  to  thank  my  good 
friend,  M.  Auguste  Mayor,  of  Neuchatel,  first  cousin 
of  Agassiz.  Although  some  years  younger  than  Louis 
Agassiz,  he  knew  him  as  a  very  young  man,  and  fol- 
lowed closely  his  eventful  and  splendid  career  dur- 
ing  his   whole   life,  both    in    Europe   and    in   America, 


viii  PREFACE. 

for  M.  Mayor  lived  for  more  than  twenty  years  in 
Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  received  Agassiz  at  his  house 
when  he  came  to  the  New  World.  Each  had  perfect 
confidence  in  the  other;  as  cousins  and  friends  they 
loved  one  another  without  reserve.  For  myself,  I  can- 
not separate  Louis  Agassiz  from  Auguste  Mayor.  Such 
friendly  and  constant  relations  in  both  hemispheres 
between  two  men  are  extremely  rare. 

I  have  carefully  read  and  considered  all  documents, 
and  have  made  constant  use  of  my  intimate  knowledge 
of  Agassiz.  Scientifically  we  did  not  agree  on  all 
points;  but  both  were  satisfied  to  accept  our  differences 
of  opinions.  On  the  whole,  our  friendship  was  never 
shadowed  by  a  single  serious  disagreement. 

The  biography  of  such  a  man  as  Agassiz  cannot  be 
given  by  the  publication  of  his  letters  only  ;  because  in 
letters  the  confidences  are  not  so  free,  precise,  or  so 
full  as  can  be  desired  :  besides,  many  letters,  for  various 
reasons,  cannot  be  published  in  full.  Agassiz's  genius 
was  so  spontaneous,  so  frankly  natural,  so  absolutely 
sincere,  that  his  physiognomy  was  most  attractive,  show- 
ing always  the  great  mobility  of  his  sentiments.  He 
was  one  of  those  very  few  men  whose  works  are  not 
sufficient  to  make  him  entirely  known  ;  one  must  meet 
him  face  to  face.  Agassiz  was  so  full  of  personal  in- 
spiration and  original  thought,  that  in  order  to  have  a 
just  idea  of  him,  naturalists  went  to  Neuchatel,  and 
afterward  to  Cambridge,  only  to  see  him,  and  shake  his 
hand.  His  individuality  was  a  subject  of  continual 
observation  by  all  those  who  surrounded  or  approached 
him.     He  was  of  an  extremely  rare  and  very  complex 


PREFACE.  ix 

type.  It  is  impossible  to  group  round  him  other  natu- 
ralists, and  to  form  a  special  class  of  spirits  related 
to  his.  He  surprised  every  one  by  his  constant  watch- 
fulness, and  his  quickness  to  get  at  the  truth  of  nature. 
Agassiz  himself  was  more  interesting  than  his  works. 
His  life  is  a  rare  study. 

Until  1838,  he  wrote  with  his  own  hand  an  enormous 
amount  of  manuscript;  nothing  discouraged  him,  and 
he  was  always  ready  to  use  his  pen,  even  to  copy 
papers  or  books  which  he  was  too  poor  to  purchase,  or 
which  it  was  impossible  to  procure  otherwise.  He  kept 
a  private*  journal,  in  which  he  wrote  with  great  naivete 
everything  which  occurred  to  him,  or  came  under  his 
eyes,  when  at  Bienne,  Lausanne,  Zurich,  Heidelberg, 
Orbe,  Munich,  Concise,  Paris,  and  during  the  first  two 
years  of  his  life  at  Neuchatel.  He  showed  me  this 
journal,  and  I  had  the  privilege  of  reading  in  it  some 
of  his  student  adventures  and  escapades.  I  do  not 
know  what  has  become  of  the  manuscript. 

Agassiz,  from  his  youth  until  his  last  illness,  was  over- 
flowing with  intellectual  spirit  and  vitality.  He  is  a 
rare  example  of  manly  qualities  and  activities.  His 
influence  on  the  progress  and  diffusion  of  natural  his- 
tory is  second  to  none. 

I  have  tried  to  bring  him  before  the  reader  as  I  have 
known  him.  If  I  do  not  produce  an  exact  portrait  oi 
the  man  and  his  life,  it  is  due  simply  to  my  inability  to 
express  my  feeling  for  the  man  and  his  works.  Born 
at  the  foot  of  the  Jura  Mountains  like  Agassiz,  and  not 
far  from  his  birthplace,  I  passed  my  youth  and  was 
educated   under  much   the  same   circumstances   as   he, 


x  PREFACE. 

and  ought  to  be  able  to  deal  with  the  difficult  task  of 
writing  his  biography,  for  I  have  had  unusual  opportu- 
nities to  know  him  and  his  surroundings  in  the  Old 
and  New  Worlds.  I  can  truly  say  that  the  task  of 
writing  his  life  has  been  a  work  of  friendly  love  and 
respect  for  the  man,  and  of  justice  to  the  savant. 

My  aim  has  been  constantly  to  make  a  judicious 
blending  of  history,  correspondence,  and  extracts  from 
his  works,  and  of  the  estimation  in  which  these  are  held 
by  others.  Mrs.  Agassiz's  account  of  her  husband's  life 
gives  the  character  of  Agassiz  by  means  of  a  list  of 
qualities  rather  than  a  complete  picture.  As  is  very 
likely  to  happen,  her  biography  is  rather  a  panegyric 
than  an  analysis  of  character.  I  have  her  example  con- 
stantly  before  my  eyes,  in  my  endeavour  not  to  fall  into 
the  same  error ;  as  Massimo  d'Azelio  says  :  "  I  must 
be  honest,  not  only  with  the  reader,  but  with  myself ; 
otherwise  I  should  be  treating  the  life  of  Agassiz  like 
a  half-decayed  peach,  the  spoilt  part  of  which  I  should 
cut  out,  and  present  only  the  sound  portion." 

Without  passing  over  in  silence  the  moral  failings  of 
the  man,  and  the  inequalities  of  talent  of  the  naturalist, 
I  have  expressed  all  my  admiration  for  this  master  of 
natural  history.  The  unity  which  is  not  to  be  found  in 
his  acts  or  in  his  works  will  be  found  in  his  iron  will ; 
he  had  a  fixed  idea  —  he  wished  to  be  the  "  first  natural- 
ist of  his  time,"  as  he  said  in  a  letter  to  his  father,  when 
he  was  still  a  student  at  Munich. 

Although  Agassiz  was  very  ready  to  care  for  his  own 
interests,  he  never  was  a  practical  man,  in  the  full 
business  sense  of  the  word.     Unable  to  choose  suitable 


PREFACE.  xi 

men  as  assistants  and  co-workers,  he  was  very  prompt 
to  make  use  of  them,  whenever  they  were  competent. 

I  shall  finish  with  a  French  sentence,  very  appropri- 
ate to  the  Franco-Swiss  savant,  educated  as  a  naturalist 
in  Germany,  a  constant  admirer  and  pupil  of  Cuvier, 
and  finally  a  naturalized  American.  Agassiz  "restera 
une  personnalite  populaire  et  sympathique.  A  mesure 
que  ses  defauts  et  ses  faiblesses  diminuent  dans  l'eloigne- 
ment,  ses  qualites  maitresses  apparaissent  plus  eclatantes 
et  font  oublier  tout  le  reste  :  il  avait  la  foi,  la  vie,  la 
chaleur,  l'enthousiasme,  la  passion,  et  surtout  ce  qui  le 
rendait  eminement  sympathique,  il  ne  connaissait  pas 
le  fiel,  l'envie,  la  rancune  et  la  haine." 

Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
March,  1895. 


INTRODUCTION. 

French  was  the  native  tongue  of  Louis  Agassiz. 
His  remarkable  and  admirable  mother  knew  neither 
English  nor  German,  but  wrote  French  with  great 
purity  and  choice  of  expression.  As  one  of  the  family 
in  Switzerland  writes  me,  "  ses  lettres  sont  charmantes, 
elle  ecrivait  a  merveille."  All  the  great  works  of 
Agassiz,  on  which  his  reputation  as  an  original  natu- 
ralist is  based,  are  in  the  French  language.  The  most 
active  part  of  his  life,  as  regards  great  discoveries,  was 
spent  at  Neuchatel,  then  a  small  town,  where  French  is 
the  only  language  spoken.  Before  he  came  to  America, 
all  his  correspondence  with  English  naturalists  was  in 
French  ;  so  that  it  is  almost  impossible  entirely  to  sup- 
press this  language  in  writing  an  accurate  and  true  life 
of  him.  Translations,  however  good,  never  give  an 
exact  idea  of  what  the  author  means,  especially  in 
the  case  of  difficult  and  delicate  observations  in  natural 
history. 

After  long  consideration,  I  have,  therefore,  concluded 
to  give  what  I  quote  of  his  correspondence  in  the  origi- 
nal. All  English-speaking  naturalists  read  French  now. 
As  the  interest  of  such  a  book  is  limited  to  naturalists 
and  persons  whose  education   leads  them  to  read  and 

xiii 


x  i  v  IXTROD  UCTION. 

appreciate  the  life  of  an  extraordinary  man,  a  few  let- 
ters and  quotations  in  French,  scattered  through  the 
work,  will  present  no  difficulties  to  its  readers.  On  the 
■ntrarv,  they  will  be  a  sort  of  stimulant  and  a  relish, 
both  scientifically  and  from  a  literary  point  of  view. 

For  the  same  reason,  an  address  —  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  many  delivered  by  Agassiz  —  has  been 
reproduced  in  the  original.  It  is  his  celebrated  dis- 
course of   1837,  on  a  "Great  Ice-age." 

During  the  period  from  his  twenty-third  to  his  fortieth 
year,  Agassiz  wrote  many  letters  in  German,  mainly  of 
a  private  nature,  addressed  to  members  of  his  German 
family  or  to  a  few  most  intimate  friends.  Almost  all 
his  scientific  letters  were  directed  to  his  old  professor 
at  Heidelberg,  H.  G.  Bronn,  and  have  been  published 
in  the  "  Neues  Jahrbuch  fur  Mineralogie,  Geologie  und 
Petrefaktenkunde."  Although  he  was  a  perfect  master 
of  German,  speaking  and  writing  it  like  a  native  of 
Heidelberg  or  Munich,  he  never  published  important 
papers  in  that  language,  only  a  few  pamphlets,  the 
principal  one  being  his  reply  to  Karl  Schimper's  claims, 
4  pp.  4to. 

Agassiz's  remarkable  personality  cannot  be  properly 
understood  without  taking  into  account  the  strength  of 
his  French  nature.  A  Franco-Swiss  he  was  born ;  and 
a  Franco-Swiss  he  remained  all  his  life,  notwithstanding 
his  American  naturalization  and  his  great  admiration 
of  the  New  World  in  general,  and  of  the  United  States 
in  particular. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   I. 

1807-1827. 

PAGE 

Ancestry  —  Origin  of  the  Name  Agassiz  —  Coat-of-Arms  —  Boy- 
hood—  Motier-en-Vuly — Reputation  of  Louis's  Father  as  a 
Teacher  —  College  of  Bienne  —  Vintage-time  at  Motier  —  Some 
Peculiarities  in  the  Character  of  Louis  Agassiz  —  College  Studies 
at  Lausanne  —  His  Resolution  to  be  a  Naturalist  —  University  of 
Zurich  —  His  First  Teacher  of  Zoology,  M.  Schinz  —  "  First  at  Work 
and  first  at  Play  !  "  —  University  of  Heidelberg  —  Alexander  Braun, 
Karl  Schimper,  and  Agassiz  —  First  Visit  to  the  Braun  Family  at 
Carlsruhe — Typhoid  Fever  —  His  Stay  at  Orbe  1 


CHAPTER   II. 

1827-1831. 

Journey  from  Carlsruhe  to  Munich  —  His  Evolution  from  a  French- 
Swiss  to  a  German  Student —  His  Duel  at  Heidelberg  —  Univer- 
sity of  Munich  —  Doctor  of  Philosophy  —  Martius's  Proposal  to 
publish  Spix's  Fishes  from  Brazil  —  Publication  of  his  First  Great 
Work  on  Natural  History  —  Doctor  of  Medicine  and  Surgery  — 
Beginning  of  his  Researches  on  the  "  Poissons  Fossiles  " — His 
Method  of  publishing  his  Works  —  His  Desire  to  be  the  First 
Naturalist  of  his  Time  —  Visit  to  Vienna  —  Return  Home  with 
Artist  Dinkel  —  Life  at  Concise  —  Christinat  —  Opportune  Help 
for  a  Trip  to  Paris  —  His  Journey  "en  Zig-zag"  by  way  of 
Carlsruhe        ...........     20 

xv 


Xvi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  III. 
1831-1832. 

PAGE 

First  Visit  to  Paris  —  His  Relations  with  Cuvier —  Humboldt  charmed 
with  him  —  His  Visit  to  the  Seashore  at  Dieppe  —  Death  of 
(  Uvicr —  Sketch  of  Cuvier's  Life  —  Cuvier  and  Geoffroy  St.  Hilaire 

—  Their   Discussion  before  the   French  Academy  of  Science  — 
:vier's   Influence  on  Agassiz  —  Difficulty  of  getting  an  Official 

Position  in  Paris  —  Appointed  Professor  at  the  Lyceum  of  Neu- 
chatel  ............     3" 

CHAPTER   IV. 

1832-1835. 

Agassiz's  First  Establishment  at  Neuchatel  —  Foundation  of  the 
'•  >ociete  des  Sciences  Naturelles,"  on  the  6th  of  December,  1832 

—  An  Offer  of  a  Chair  at  the  University  of  Pleidelberg  declined  — 
Letter  of  Humboldt  —  Engagement  of  Alexander  Braun  with  Miss 
Cecile  Guyot  and  that  of  Karl  Schimper  with  Miss  Emmy  Braun 
broken  off — Marriage  of  Agassiz  with  Miss  Cecile  Braun  —  Publi- 
cation of  the  First  Part  of  the  "Fossil  Fishes"  —  First  Visit  to 
England  in  1834  —  "Monographic  des  Echinodermes  " — Des 
Moulins's  Work  on  the  Same  Subject  —  Criticisms  of  Humboldt 
and  von  Buch — Second  Visit  to  England  in  1835  —  Birth  of  a 
Son  —  Four  Letters  to  Pictet  and  Nicolet      .         .         .         .         -5° 

CHAPTER  V. 

1836-1837. 

The  Wollaston  Medal  —  First  Paper  of  de  Charpentier  on  the  Glacial 
Theory  —  Venetz's  Observations  on  Large  Boulders  perched  on 
the  Sides  of  the  Alpine  Valleys  —  Dr.  Hermann  Lebert,  the  First 
Disciple  and  Pupil  of  de  Charpentier  and  Venetz  —  Extract  from 
de  Charpentier's  First  Paper  —  Agassiz's  Summer  Vacation  at  Bex, 
near  the  House  of  de  Charpentier  —  Conversion  of  Agassiz  to  the 
(ilacial  Theory;  his  Creation  of  the  Ice-age  —  Karl  Schimper 
visits  Agassiz  at  Bex  and  at  Neuchatel  —  Discours  de  Neuchatel 
July  24,  1837,  on  the  Ice-age        .         .         .         .         .         .         -7-' 


CONTENTS.  xvii 

CHAPTER  VI. 

1 836-1 837  {continued)  and  1838. 

PAGE 

Discussion  raised  by  Agassiz's  Discourse  at  Neuchatel  —  Agassiz's 
Great  Reputation  at  the  Early  Age  of  Thirty  Years  —  Death  of  his 
Father  —  Laurillard  the  Assistant  of  Cuvier  —  The  Establishment 
of  Hercule  Nicolet's  Lithography  at  Neuchatel  —  Dr.  Vogt  of 
Berne  sends  Agassiz  Edward  Desor  as  a  Secretary  —  Offer  of  a 
Chair  at  the  Academies  of  Geneva  and  Lausanne  —  First  Visit  to 
the  Bernese  Alps  —  Two  Letters  to  Jules  Thurmann  —  A  Visit  to 
Chamounix  —  The  Meeting  of  the  Geological  Society  of  France  at 
Porrentruy  —  First  Use  of  Lithochromy  for  the  Plates  of  Fossil 
Fishes  —  The  Geologist  Armand  Gressly  —  Agassiz  created  a 
"  Bourgeois  "  of  Neuchatel  —  Organization  of  an  Academy  at 
Neuchatel 109 

CHAPTER  VII. 

1 839- 1 840. 

Agassiz's  Scientific  Activity  ;  the  Help  rendered  by  his  Secretary 
Desor  —  An  Interesting  Business  Letter  to  Pictet  —  Dispute  with 
Edward  Charlesworth  about  the  French  and  German  Translation 
of  Sowerby's  "  Mineral  Conchology" — Visit  to  the  Monte  Rosa 
and  the  Matterhorn  —  The  Geologist  Voltz  of  Strasbourg  —  Stu- 
der's  Conversion  to  the  Glacial  Doctrine  —  Old  Glaciers  in  the 
Vosges — Search  on  the  Glacier  of  the  Aar  for  Hugi's  Old  Cabin 
—  Karl  Vogt's  Arrival  as  Assistant  to  Agassiz  —  The  Household 
and  Laboratory  of  Agassiz  at  Neuchatel  —  The  "  Echinodermes 
fossiles  de  la  Suisse  "  —  "  Etudes  sur  les  Glaciers  "  — The  "  Essai 
sur  les  Glaciers,"  by  de  Charpentier —  Letter  of  Agassiz  to  de  Char- 
pentier — The  "Hotel  des  Neuchatelois  "  on  the  Aar  Glacier  — 
Visit  of  Mrs.  Agassiz  and  Alexander  to  the  Glacier  —  Journey  to 
England  —  The  Glacial  Theory  in  England  —  Agassiz's  Discovery 
of  Ancient  Glaciers  in  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  England  —  Letter  to 
Humboldt 137 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

1841-1842. 

Visit  during  the  Winter  to  the  Aar  Glacier  —  Letters  to  Jules  Thur- 
mann and  to  Eugenio  Sismonda  —  "  Monographic  d'Echinodermes 


xviii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

vivants  et  fossiles"  —  Letter  to  Deshayes  —  Another  Letter  to 
Thurmann  —  Visit  of  James  D.  Forbes  at  the  "Hotel  des  NeuchS- 
telois*'  —  Ascent  of  the  Jungfrau  —  Other  Visitors  at  the  "Hotel 
des  Neuch&telois  "  —  Forbes  at  Neuchatel  and  La  Chaux-de-fonds 

—  Inauguration  of  the  Academy  of  Neuchatel,  18th  of  November, 
1S41  — Agassiz's  Letter  to  the  Rector  of  the  Academy  —  His  Ap- 
pointment as  Rector  for  the  Vear  1 842-1 843  —  Controversy  with 
James  D.  Forbes  on  the  Laminated  Structure  of  Glaciers  —  A  New 
Cabin  to  replace  the  "  H8tel  des  Neuchatelois  " —  Stay  at  the  Aar 
( ilarier  from  the  Beginning  of  July,  1842,  to  the  Middle  of  Septem- 
ber —  Discoveries  of  John  Tyndall  —  Dispute  with  Karl  Schimper 

—  Daniel  Dullfus-Ausset        .         .         .         .  .         .         .  .    1 75 


CHAPTER   IX. 

1 843- 1 844. 

"  Recherches  sur  les  Poissons  Fossiles,"  1833-1843  —  Review  of  it  by 
Jules  Pictet  de  la  Rive  —  Dr.  A.  Giinther's  Opinion  —  Agassiz's 
Errors  with  the  Eocene  Fossil  Fishes  of  Glaris  (Switzerland)  — 
The  Part  taken  by  Collaborators  in  the  "  Poissons  Fossiles  "  — 
Another  Visit  to  the  Glacier  of  the  Aar  —  The  Meeting  of  the 
Helvetic  Society  at  Lausanne,  July,  1843  —  Agassiz's  Hospitality 
at  Neuchatel  —  False  Position  of  his  Secretary,  Desor,  and  his 
Assistant,  Vogt  —  Scientific  Life  in  Neuchatel  —  "  Monographies 
des  Poissons  Fossiles  du  Vieux  Gres  Rouge,"  1844  —  The' Geol- 
ogist and  Stonecutter,  Hugh  Miller  —  "  Histoire  Naturelle  des 
Poissons  d'Eau  douce"  —  Karl  Vogt  leaves  Agassiz  —  Extraordi- 
nary Session  of  the  Geological  Society  of  France  at  Chambery 
(Savoy)  —  Failure  of  Nicolet's  Lithographic  Establishment  — 
Dinkel  leaves  Neuchatel  —  Illness  of  Gressly        .         .         .         .211 


CHAPTER  X. 

1845. 

"Monographic  des  Myes,"  1842- 1845 — The  "  Nomenclator  Zoolo- 
gicus,"  1842-1845  —  "  Bibliographia  Zoologize  et  Geologise"  — 
"  Iconographie  des  Coquilles  tertiaires  reputees  Identiques  avec  les 
Especes  Vivantes,"  etc.  —  The  Two  Translations  of  Sowerby's 
"Mineral    Conchology    of    Great    Britain"  —  Actual    Mercantile 


CONTENTS.  xix 

PAGE 

Value  of  Agassiz's  Publications  —  Agassiz's  Family  come  to  his 
Help  —  Great  Credit  due  to  Neuchatel  and  its  Inhabitants  — 
Agassiz's  Last  Series  of  Lectures :  "  Notice  sur  la  Geographie  des 
Animaux  "  —  Intimate  Friendship  with  Jules  Pictet  de  la  Rive  — 
Agassiz's  Last  Visit  to  the  Aar  Glacier  —  The  Meeting  of  the 
Helvetic  Society  of  Natural  Sciences  at  Geneva,  August,  1845  — 
A  Letter  to  Pictet,  with  Biographical  Remarks  —  Biography  of 
Agassiz  by  Pictet  —  Agassiz  returns  all  the  Specimens  borrowed 
for  his  Great  Pakeontological  Works 239 


CHAPTER   XL 

1846. 

Departure  from  Neuchatel,  March,  1846  —  Arrival  in  Paris  and 
Sojourn  at  the  "  Hotel  du  Jardin  du  Roi  "  —  "  Nouvelles  Etudes 
sur  les  Glaciers  actuels  "  —  The  Glacial  Theory  before  the  Geo- 
logical Society  of  France,  at  the  Meeting  of"  the  6th  of  April,  1846 
—  Agassiz's  "  Catalogue  Raisonne  des  Echinodermes  "  —  His 
Work  in  the  "  Galerie  de  Zoologie  "  and  among  the  Private  Collec- 
tions of  Brongniart,  de  France,  Deshayes,  d'Orbigny,  de  Verneuil, 
etc.  —  Desor's  Presumption,  in  putting  his  Name  on  the  Title 
Page,  without  Agassiz's  Knowledge — Attentions  paid  to  Agassiz 
by  Thiers  —  Indirect  Offer  of  Official  Positions  at  Paris  declined  — 
Short  Visit  to  England,  to  meet  Charles  Lyell  —  On  a  Cunard 
Steamship  from  Liverpool  to  Boston 258 


CHAPTER   XII. 

1846  {continued)-!^*] , 

Arrival  in  America,  and  Reception  by  Mr.  John  A.  Lowell  —  Condition 
of  Natural  History  in  the  United  States  — ■  His  First  Visit  to  New- 
York —  His  Acquaintance  with  Dr.  Samuel  Morton,  of  Philadelphia 
—  Collections  of  Captain  Wilkes  made  during  his  Expedition 
round  the  World,  seen  at  Washington  —  Science  at  the  Capital 
of  the  United  States  —  Agassiz's  First  Series  of  Lectures  before 
the  Lowell  Institute  at  Boston  —  His  Success  —  A  Course  on  the 
Glaciers,  in  French  —  Frank  de  Pourtales  joins  him — Charles- 
ton, South  Carolina  —  His  Observations  on  the  Negroes  —  I  lis  Dis- 


xx  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

approval  of  Slavery  —  Arrival  at  New  York  of  his  Two  Assistants, 
Desor  and  (liranl — Establishment  at  East  Boston —  Sickness  of 
Agassiz  —  I  lis  Hospitality  —  A  Visit  to  Niagara  Palls  —  On  Board 
the  United  States  Coast  Survey  Steamer,  the  Bibb —  Arrival  of 
Minister  Charles  Louis  Philippe  Christinat —  First  Difficulties  with 
his  Secretary — Two  letters  to  J.  Marcou,  extending  an  Invitation 
to  join  him     ...........  279 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Vol.  I. 

Portrait  of  Louis  Agassiz,  1872       .        .        .       Frontispiece 
Sketch  Map  of  Part  of  Switzerland  6 

Hotel  des  Neuchatelois,  August,  1842    .        .        .        .201 


XXI 


CHAPTER   I. 

1807-1827. 

Ancestry  —  Origin  of  the  Name  Agassiz  —  Coat-of-Arms —  Boyhood 

—  motier-en-vuly  —  reputation  of  louis's  father  as  a  teacher 

—  College  of  Bienne  —  Vintage-time  at  Motier  —  Some  Peculi- 
arities in  the  Character  of  Louis  Agassiz  —  College  Studies 
at  Lausanne  —  His  Resolution  to  be  a  Naturalist  —  University 
of  Zurich  —  His  First  Teacher  of  Zoology,  M.  Schinz  —  "First 
at  Work  and  first  at  Play  !  "  —  University  of  Heidelberg  — 
Alexander  Braun,  Karl  Schimper,  and  Agassiz — First  Visit 
to  the  Braun  Family  at  Carlsruhe  —  Typhoid  Fever  —  His 
Stay  at  Orbe. 

The  Agassiz  family  came  originally  from  Orbe  and 
the  small  village  of  Bavois,  in  the  "Jura  Vaudois."  A 
little  west  of  Orbe  there  is  a  small  hamlet,  called  Agiez 
or  Agiz.  In  old  French,  and  more  especially  in  the 
patois  of  the  Canton  de  Vaud,  Agiz,  Agiez,  Agasse, 
Agassiz,  and  Aigasse1  mean  "magpie,"  a  bird  which 
was  and  is  still  very  common  in  the  country  around 
Orbe  and  La  Sarraz.  In  low  Latin,  magpie  is  Agasia ; 
in  Provencal,  Agazia,  or  Agassa,  and  Agasse ;  while  in 
Burgundy  and   Franche-Comte   it  is  Aiguaisse.     Obvi- 

1  "Agassiz  ou  Agasses  ou  Agaisse;  dans  toute  la  France  ces  trois  nonis 
signifient  Pie.  Autrefois  Agassiz  s'ecrivait  un  peu  differement  Agacie. 
C'etait  un  surnom  donne  jadis  aux  querelleurs,  dit-on,  et  aussi  aux  grands 
causeurs.  —  On  sait  combien  la  Pie  est  jaseuse."  (See  "  Dictionnaire  des 
noms,"  par  Loredan-Larchey,  p.  4,  Paris,  1SS0.) 
B  I 


2  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  i. 

ously  the  name  of  the  family  was  derived  from  the 
name  of  the  bird ;  as  evidence  of  this,  the  old  armoiries 
or  coat-of-arms  of  the  Agassiz  family  is  a  black  magpie 
on  a  silver  ground  {Pie  noire  sur  fond  d' argent),  a 
drawing  of  which  may  be  seen  on  the  title-page.  It  is 
still  preserved  in  the  family  in  Switzerland,  which  also 
possesses  an  old  seal,  engraved  on  copper,  with  the 
same  bird  in  the  centre.  Formerly,  among  all  French- 
speaking  peoples  it  was  the  custom  for  ennobled 
burghers  to  adopt  for  their  coat-of-arms  what  was 
called  "  armes  parlantes,"  and  the  Agassiz  of  Orbe 
chose  the  magpie. 

Originally,  the  name  was  doubtless  given  to  one 
inclined  to  talk  a  little  too  much,  —  as  the  French 
proverb  has  it,  "bavard  comme  une  pie." 

One  of  the  most  faithful  correspondents  and  best 
friends  of  Agassiz,  Sir  Philip  de  Grey  Egerton,  the 
great  English  paleoichthyologist,  an  excellent  French 
scholar,  used  often  to  call  him  "  Mon  cher  Agass  "  as  a 
reminder  of  his  knowledge  of  old  French  and  patois. 

The  name  Agassiz  is  not  very  rare,  and  is  found 
among  French  people  not  connected  in  any  way  with 
the  original  family  of  Louis  Agassiz.  However,  a 
branch  of  his  family  emigrated  to  London,  and  some 
fifty  or  more  years  ago  a  family  of  bankers  of  the 
name  of  Agassiz  was  there,  who  occasionally  corre- 
sponded with  their  relatives  of  the  Canton  de  Vaud. 
One  of  them  published,  in  1833,  a  book  of  travels  under 
the  title,  "  Journey  to  Switzerland  and  Pedestrian  Tours 
in  that  Country"  (London,  8vo),  a  work  which  is  some- 
times wrongly  attributed  to  Louis  Agassiz. 


1807-27.]     ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAME  AGASSIZ.  3 

At  the  beginning  of  this  century  there  was  in  Paris 
a  M.  Agasse,  a  publisher  and  bookseller,  who  published 
in  1804  the  third  edition  of  "La  Flore  francaise,"  by 
Lamarck  and  De  Candolle. 

The  celebrated  La  Fontaine,  in  his  fable  "  L'Aigle  et 
la  Pie,"  says:  — 

"  L'aigle,  reine  des  airs,  avec  Margot  la  pie, 
Differentes  d'humeur,  de  langage,  et  d'esprit, 
Et  d'habit, 
Traversaient  un  bout  de  prairie. 
Le  hazard  les  assemble  en  un  coin  detourne. 
L' Agasse  1  eut  peur ;  mais  TAigle  ayant  fort  bien  dine*, 
La  rassure,  et  lui  dit :  '  Allons  de  compagnie  ; 
Si  le  maitre  des  dieux  assez  souvent  s"ennuie, 
Lui  qui  gouverne  l'univers, 

J'en  puis  bien  faire  autant,  moi  qu'on  sait  qui  le  sers. 
Entretenez-moi  done,  et  sans  ceremonie.1 
Caquet-bon-bec  alors  de  jaser  au  plus  dru, 
Sur  ceci,  sur  cela,  sur  tout.     L'homme  d'Horace, 
Disant  le  bien,  le  mal,  a  travers  champs,  n'eut  su 
Ce  qu'en  fait  de  babil  y  savait  notre  Agasse." 

The  name  is  also  found  in  Italy,  but  omits  the  z  at 
the  end. 

In  the  Arabic  or  Mauresque  and  Saracenic  language 
the  expression  "  Kol-Agassiz "  means  wing-leader,  a 
sort  of  field  officer  occupying  a  position  between  captain 
and  major,  called  in  Turkish  "  Bin-Bashi."  So  in 
Arabic  Agassiz  means  conductor,  leader.  The  origin  of 
the  Swiss  name  evidently  differs  from  that  of  the 
Mauresque  and  Saracenic  word. 

1  "  Agasse,  vieux  mot  qui  vient  de  l'italien  gazza,  signifiant  Pie." 


4  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  i. 

That  the  Agassiz  were  descendants  of  French  Hu- 
guenots, and  were  obliged  to  leave  France  at  the 
revocation  of  the  "  edit  de  Nantes,"  is  a  tradition  with- 
out any  solid  basis  of  fact  to  rest  upon.  Indeed,  the 
name  Agassiz  existed  as  far  back  as  the  thirteenth 
century  in  the  Canton  de  Vaud ;  but  it  is  impossible  to 
trace  the  family,  because  all  the  papers  belonging  to 
the  Agassiz  were  destroyed  in  a  fire  at  the  parsonage 
of  Constantine,  in  the  Canton  de  Vaud,  where  the 
grandfather  of  Louis  was  settled  as  pastor,  —  a  pro- 
fession followed  in  the  family  for  five  generations. 

Very  likely  an  Agassiz  married  a  French  Huguenot ; 
for  at  the  time  of  the  revocation  the  French  Protestant 
exiles  flocked  into  Switzerland,  and  settled  in  large 
numbers  at  Orbe  and  in  the  environs ;  almost  com- 
pletely filling  the  villages  now  known  as  Ballaigues, 
Vallorbe,  and  La  Vallee  de  Joux,  and  it  is  possible  that 
an  Agassiz  married  among  them ;  which  may  account 
for  the  tradition. 

There  is  much  to  favour  the  belief  in  a  connection  of 
the  Agassiz  with  some  French  family  of  the  Cevennes, 
or  of  Provence ;  for  the  extraordinary  imagination  of 
Louis  Agassiz  points  to  a  close  connection  with  the 
children  of  sunny  Provence,  so  well  portrayed  by 
Alphonse  Daudet  in  his  series  of  romances  on  Tartarin 
of  Tarascon. 

The  family  features  are,  however,  entirely  Swiss,  and 
even  Jurassic.  In  general,  they  are  broad  shouldered, 
thickly  built,  bony,  with  fair-coloured  faces,  and  rather 
slow  in  their  movements,  —  a  type  very  frequently  met 
.all  along  the  foot  of  the  mountains  of  the  Jura,  more 


1807-27.]  BOYHOOD.  5 

especially  from  Bicnnc  down  to  Orbc  and  "  la  perte  du 
Rhone." 

The  father  of  Louis  was  called  Rodolphe  Benjamin 
Louis;  he  was  born  March  3,  1776,  and  died  Sept.  6, 
1837.  His  mother,  Rose  Mayor,  was  born  July  11, 
1783,  and  died  Nov.  11,  1867.  Jean  Louis  Rodolphe 
Agassiz  was  born  May  28,  1807,  at  the  parsonage  of 
Motier-en-Vuly,  on  the  Lake  of  Morat,  Canton  of  Fri- 
bourg.  He  was  the  fifth  child,  but  the  four  others  hav- 
ing died  in  their  infancy,  Louis  Agassiz  was  the  eldest 
child.  As  is  the  custom  among  all  French-speaking 
people,  he  never  used  his  full  Christian  name,  but 
signed  himself  simply  Louis  Agassiz. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  century,  and  before  coming 
to  the  parish  of  Motier,  his  father  had  been  pastor  at 
St.  Imier,  then  a  very  poor  and  remote  valley,  lost 
among  the  mountains  of  the  Jura.  The  loss  of  his 
children,  one  after  another,  and  the  great  isolation  of 
St.  Imier,  far  away  from  his  kindred  and  friends,  led 
him  to  look  for  a  better  parish,  and,  in  1806,  he  came 
to  Motier,1  first  as  a  "  suffragan  "  (assistant)  of  the  titu- 
lar minister,  J.  R.  Martin;  afterward,  on  Aug.  31,  1810, 
he  was  elected  "  pasteur  "  (minister). 

The  parish  of  Motier  consists  of  four  small  villages, 
located  at  the  eastern  foot  of  Mont  Vuly,  on  the  Lake 
of  Morat,  and  containing  in  all  five  hundred  inhabitants. 
Singularly  enough,  Vuly  belongs  to  the   Roman  Catho- 

1  The  name  is  sometimes  spelled  Motiers,  and  to  distinguish  it  from 
another  Motiers  in  the  Val  Travers,  it  is  called  Motier-en-Vully.  The 
spelling  varies  as  well  for  Vully  as  for  Motier,  Motiers,  or  Moutiers,  and  is 
written  sometimes  Vuilly,  Vuly,  or  Vully. 


6  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  i. 

lie  Canton  of  Fribourg ;  but  in  consequence  of  its  situa- 
tion on  the  extreme  frontier  of  the  Canton  of  Berne,  it 
was  invested  with  the  right  of  com-burghership,  "  corn- 
bourgeoisie,"  with  Berne. 

When,  in  1530,  the  celebrated  reformer,  Farel,  suc- 
ceeded in  converting  the  parish  of  Motier,  the  council 
of  Fribourg  complained  to  Berne  of  his  preaching  in 
the  Vuly ;  deputies  were  sent  therefore  from  Berne 
to  meet  at  Morat  together  with  four  delegates  from 
the  four  principal  villages  of  the  Vuly,  who  concluded 
to  put  the  matter  to  vote  under  the  direction  of  "  Mes- 
sieurs de  Berne."1  The  reform  movement  received  the 
majority  of  votes  in  the  four  villages  of  the  Motier 
parish,  and  it  has  ever  since  been  Protestant,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  it  belongs  to  a  very  strong  and 
uncompromising  Catholic  canton. 

The  Vuly  is  situated  at  the  extreme  end  of  a  prom- 
ontory, surrounded  by  water  on  three  sides ;  on  the  east 
by  the  Lake  of  Morat,  on  the  north  by  the  river  La 
Broye,  and  on  the  west  by  the  Lake  of  Neuchatel.  The 
Seeland  of  Berne,  comprised  between  Kersers,  Treiten, 
Aarberg,  and  Bienne,  constitutes,  with  the  lakes  of 
Morat,  Neuchatel,  and  Bienne,  a  very  extensive  sheet 
of  water. 

As  soon  as  the  young  couple  had  left  the  trying  cli- 
mate of  St.  Imier,  with  its  long  and  very  cold  winter, 
and  had  settled  in  the  fine  agricultural  district  of  the 
Vuly,  with  its  vineyards  and  orchards,  prosperity  and 
happiness    greeted   them    from    every  direction.     Four 

1  A  name  formerly  used  among  the  Swiss  who  speak  the  French  lan- 
guage to  designate  all  those  in  authority  in  the  Canton  of  Berne. 


•frj       # 

/  /  Vallorbe 


asarraz 


j>Censeau 


Motier  Birthplace  of  Lout*  Ageusia 

Qrbe  <£    Buuois  Origin  u/t/ic  A<jn<s!z's family 
Cuvier -<      •.    ,.  Owner's       >• 

Pouotntj  i  Carmichiol  EnTT*. 


Sketch  Map  of  Part  of  Switzerland. 


1807-27.]  MOTIER-EN-VULY.  7 

healthy  children  —  two  sons,  Louis  and  Auguste,  and 
two  daughters,  Olympe  and  Cecile  —  were  born  to 
them ;  and  although  the  parish  was  small  and  conse- 
quently of  limited  means,  it  was  most  gratifying  to  find 
themselves  among  relatives  and  friends ;  for  pastor 
Agassiz  had  resided  for  some  time  at  Constantine,  a 
village  near  Avranches,  where  his  father  was  minister, 
and  it  was  during  his  stay  there  that  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  Miss  Rose  Mayor,  his  future  wife,  who 
was  a  daughter  of  the  country  physician  at  Cudrefin,  a 
village  only  a  few  miles  distant  from  Motier.  It  may 
be  said  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  whole  peninsula 
of  Vuly,  Cudrefin,  and  Constantine,  greeted  pastor 
Agassiz  and  his  wife,  as  their  own  people  returned. 

Born  and  educated  in  such  a  place  as  Motier,  sur- 
rounded by  water  and  marshes,  with  the  Oberland 
always  in  full  view  in  front,  and  the  summit  of  the 
Jura  in  the  rear,  it  is  no  wonder  that  Agassiz  became 
an  ichthyologist  and  a  glacialist.  Everything  which 
met  his  eye,  from  infancy  until  manhood,  seems  to 
have  awaked  in  him  a  curiosity  to  know  his  surround- 
ings. It  was  as  natural  for  him  to  take  to  the  study 
of  fishes  and  of  glaciers  as  it  is  for  sons  of  seamen  to 
go  to  sea,  or  for  "vignerons"  (vine-dressers)  to  go  to 
the  vineyard,  or  for  the  "  gauchos  "  to  ride  on  the  prai- 
ries of  South  America,  or  for  the  Arabs  to  cross  the 
desert  on  camels.  It  might  almost  be  said  that  Louis 
Agassiz,  as  we  shall  see  more  fully  by  and  by,  was  a  re- 
markable instance  of  atavism  of  the  Swiss  lake-dwellers 
of  prehistoric  time. 

Almost  as  soon  as  he  was   able   to   move    alone,   lie 


8  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  i. 

took  naturally  to  water,  like  a  young  duck.  All  the 
fishermen  became  at  once  very  fond  of  the  little  fellow, 
and  there  was  a  friendly  rivalry  among  them  to  get  him 
into  their  boats  and  show  him  how  to  catch  fish.  In  a 
relatively  short  time  he  became  a  great  favourite,  and 
every  one  wanted  to  show  the  parson's  son  those  neigh- 
bourly attentions  which  are  of  daily  occurrence,  and  form 
a  part,  and  an  important  part,  of  life,  among  all  the 
country  people  residing  in  such  isolated  places  as  the 
Vuly. 

A  part  of  the  duty  of  a  minister  in  Switzerland  is  to 
look  after  the  schools  and  even  to  take  a  part,  and  often 
not  a  small  one,  in  the  teaching.  Parson  Agassiz  was 
a  very  successful  and  excellent  teacher ;  indeed,  in  all 
his  parishes,  both  at  St.  Imier  and  at  Motier,  and  after- 
ward at  Orbe  and  Concise,  his  reputation  as  a  teacher 
was  far  superior  to  his  reputation  as  a  preacher. 

Louis  was  by  far  the  best  pupil  of  his  father ;  for  not 
only  did  he  learn  from  him  the  elements,  and  lay  an 
excellent  foundation  for  his  future  education,  but  he 
caught  from  him  his  method  of  teaching,  which  was 
based  entirely  on  the  interest  he  always  tried  to  awaken 
among  his  pupils  in  the  subject  of  study.  There  is 
no  doubt  this  was  a  family  inheritance,  and  that  it 
developed  and  attained  its  maximum  with  Louis.  It 
may  be  said  that  Louis  Agassiz  was  born  with  a  true 
passion  for  teaching,  as  truly  as  that  he  was  born  a 
naturalist.  As  we  shall  see,  he  remained  a  teacher 
until  the  end  of  his  life,  changing  his  subjects  of  studies 
quite  often,  and  showing  a  rather  capricious  character  in 
many  ways,  except  in  his  unalterable  love  of  teaching. 


1807-27.]  COLLEGE  or  r,u:xxE.  g 

Next  to  his  passion  for  teaching,  but  developed  before 
it,  was  his  passion  for  collecting  all  sorts  of  objects  be- 
longing to  natural  history.  As  soon  as  he  was  able  to 
catch  fish,  he  brought  them  alive  and  placed  them  in  a 
great  stone  basin  of  the  fountain  of  the  parsonage.1  It 
is  the  custom  in  the  Canton  de  Vaud  and  the  neighbour- 
ing Swiss  cantons  to  use  boulders  for  basins,  either  to 
receive  the  water  flowing  from  springs,  or  to  hold  the 
fruit  of  the  vintage  when  the  grapes  are  brought  from 
the  vineyard  to  be  pressed  and  converted  into  wine. 
These  boulders  are  generally  of  Alpine  granite,  and  are 
cut  into  the  proper  shape,  great  care  being  taken  not  to 
break  them,  but  to  keep  the  block  one  great  monolith. 
Such  an  Alpine  boulder  was  the  basin  of  the  Motier 
parsonage,  used  as  a  vivier  or  aquarium  by  our  young 
ichthyologist.  It  is  not  strange  that,  later  in  life,  Agassiz 
became  such  an  expert  in  boulders  transported  by  gla- 
ciers ;  and  it  seems  specially  appropriate  that  one  of 
them,  transported  from  the  Alps,  should  be  his  tomb- 
stone in  America. 

At  the  age  of  ten  years,  he  was  sent  to  the  College  of 
Bienne,  to  begin  his  classical  studies  ;  finishing  them  at 
the  Academy  of  Lausanne  in  1 822-1 824.  He  was  a 
very  clever  student,  but  never  had  much  inclination  for 
mathematics  and  the  physical  and  chemical  sciences. 
He  always  showed  great  capacity  for  languages,  be- 
coming quite  proficient  in  Latin  and  Greek,  and  when 
at  Bienne,  learning  German  and  Italian,  especially  the 

1  "  Le  fils  d'un  pasteur  du  Canton  de  Vaud,  dont  le  pfere,  nc  savait  que 
faire  de  ce  garcon  courant  toujours  les  champs  ct  toutes  les  rives  du  Lac  </ 
chercher  des  betes"  as  one  of  the  contemporaries  of  his  youth  said. 


io  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  i. 

former,  which  he  spoke  like  a  native.     Geography  was 
another  favourite  study. 

His  brother  Auguste,  younger  by  two  years,  joined 
him,  a  year  later,  at  the  College  of  Bienne,  and  the 
two  brothers  kept  together  during  all  their  classical 
studies.  The  distance  between  Motier  and  Bienne  — 
about  seven  leagues  —  was  always  made  on  foot ;  and, 
considering  their  extreme  youth,  it  was  quite  a  journey 
for  such  little  fellows.  But  they  were  excellent  walkers; 
and  though  at  first  the  route  was  difficult,  further  on  they 
crossed  over  the  "  Seeland,"  or  marshy  country,  and  the 
western  shore  of  the  Lake  of  Bienne,  and  reached  their 
destination  in  eight  hours,  not  over-fatigued.  I  heard 
both  say,  many  years  after,  that  it  was  shorter  and 
easier  to  go  home  from  Bienne  than  it  was  to  go  to  the 
college  at  Bienne  from  home.  Going  home  to  pass 
the  vacations  was,  of  course,  such  an  attraction  that  the 
roads  seemed  neither  so  long  nor  so  dirty;  besides,  these 
journeys  always  happened  at  a  fine  time  of  the  year; 
for  college  vacations  then  in  all  the  Jura  region  were 
during  the  fall,  from  the  first  of  September  to  the  first 
of  November.  Louis's  great  strength  and  already 
vigorous  vitality  are  finely  illustrated  by  two  anec- 
dotes :  Arriving  quite  unexpected  from  Bienne  with 
his  brother,  he  learned  at  Motier  that  his  sisters  with 
their  cousins  Mayor  were  at  their  grandfather's  house 
at  Cudrefin.  At  once  he  started  again ;  but  on  his 
arrival  at  Cudrefin,  he  found  all  the  young  ladies 
enjoying  a  bath  in  the  lake,  at  some  distance  from 
the  shore.  In  order  not  to  lose  a  moment,  he  jumped 
into  the  water  with  his  clothes  on,  that  he  might  the 


1807-27.]  VINTAGE-TIME  AT  MOTIER.  11 

more  promptly  greet  and  kiss  sisters  and  cousins,  —  the 
latter  especially,  for  with  one  of  them  he  was  already 
in  love;  and  to  express  his  great  admiration  for  this 
cousin  he  could  find  nothing  better  to  do  than  to  have 
her  name  tattooed  on  his  left  arm  with  sulphuric  acid. 
The  result  was  a  severe  attack  of  fever,  and  two  or 
three  weeks  of  forced  inaction  and  rest  for  his  arm, 
which  betrayed  his  act  to  the  whole  family. 

The  two  brothers  divided  their  vacations  between 
Motier  and  Cudrefm,  where  they  enjoyed  all  the  free- 
dom of  country  life  and  the  comforts  of  home  and  fam- 
ily surroundings.  Their  time  was  passed  in  fishing, 
rambling  about  with  their  grandfather,  Dr.  Mayor,  in 
his  daily  excursions  as  a  country  doctor,  in  gathering 
in  the  second  crop  of  hay,  called  "  regain,"  and  in  the 
"vendanges."  This  last  occupation  was  the  most  pleas- 
ing ;  for  when  the  vineyards  were  richly  laden  with 
grapes,  the  labourers  of  the  Canton  of  Berne  —  where 
there  are  no  vineyards  on  account  of  the  severity  of 
the  climate  —  gathered  by  troops  from  all  around  the 
shores  of  the  Lake  of  Neuchatel,  to  offer  themselves 
as  "vendangeurs,"  or  vintagers,  during  the  time  of  the 
gathering  of  the  grapes  and  the  process  of  crushing 
the  juice  under  the  "  pressoir."  It  was  a  true  festival, 
when  everybody,  young  and  old,  was  happy,  singing 
throughout  the  day  and  calling  from  vineyard  to  vine- 
yard. In  the  evening  at  supper,  all  the  "vendangeurs  ' 
sat  at  the  table  with  the  proprietors,  and  the  most  pro- 
ficient singers  were  called,  one  after  another,  to  sing 
popular  songs,  which  were  closed  in  chorus  by  the 
whole  company.     Light  wines   were   used   very  freely 


12  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  i. 

and  the  cups  were  continually  filled  and  emptied 
during  these  very  joyous  and  friendly  repasts.  For 
it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  same  labourers  used 
to  come  every  year,  and  the  meetings  were  more  or  less 
reunions  of  old  acquaintances,  always  full  of  reminis- 
cences of  preceding  years. 

Mingling  so  freely  with  the  people  round  him,  it 
would  seem  that  Louis  must  have  become  an  expert 
in  horsemanship  and  the  use  of  firearms,  like  almost 
all  young  men  raised  in  country  places  in  Switzerland. 
But  this  was  not  the  case.  Trusting  to  his  great 
powers  of  swimming,  and  led  on  by  his  love  for 
fish-catching,  Louis  was  always  ready  to  embark  on 
skiff  or  raft  of  any  sort.  But  on  land  it  was  very 
different.  In  Switzerland  no  one  ever  saw  him  on 
horseback ;  and  it  is  doubtful  if  he  ever  tried  to  ride, 
except  once  in  Brazil.  All  his  life  he  invariably  de- 
clined to  mount  horse  or  mule.  As  to  shooting,  he 
never  possessed  firearms,  and  never  joined  a  shooting 
club,  and  probably  never  fired  a  single  shot  during  his 
life  in  Europe.  He  is  a  very  remarkable  exception  among 
the  Swiss  of  the  present  century,  for  he  never  performed 
any  military  service.  The  great  "Tirs  Federaux"  never 
attracted  him,  and  his  passion  for  natural  history  never 
carried  him  so  far  as  to  shoot  birds  or  animals  of  any 
sort. 

Curiously  enough,  when  a  student  at  the  universities 
of  Zurich,  Heidelberg,  and  Munich,  he  became  a  great 
fencer;  and  one  of  his  contemporaries  and  friends 
writes  me  that  Agassiz  was  an  excellent  swordsman, 
using  the  rapier  with  great  dexterity,  and  very  ready 


1807-27.]  COLLEGE  OE  LAUSANNE.  13 

to  make  use  of  it  when  discussions  degenerated  into 
quarrels  and  obliged  the  contestants  to  be  called  out. 
At  Munich  especially  he  was  well  known  on  account  of 
several  duels,  which  he  fought  to  his  credit  and  always 
successfully. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen,  it  was  decided  that  he  should 
enter,  as  a  clerk,  the  commercial  house  of  his  uncle, 
Francois  Mayor,  at  Neuchatel.  But  on  account  of  his 
ability  as  a  scholar,  he  was  allowed  to  finish  his  college 
studies  at  Lausanne,  where  he  studied  "  belles  lettres  " 
and  the  humanities  for  two  years,  1 822-1 824.  It  was 
during  his  stay  at  Lausanne  that  he  gave  the  first  indica- 
tion of  the  possession  of  the  characteristics  which  after- 
ward developed  so  strongly  in  him  as  a  savant  and  as  a 
man.  Another  of  his  uncles,  Dr.  Mathias  Mayor,  had 
great  reputation  as  a  physician,  and  a  large  practice  at 
Lausanne  and  in  all  Romande  Switzerland  ;  and  from 
him  Louis  learned  the  elements  of  anatomy.  At  the 
same  time,  he  had  his  first  opportunity  to  see  a  small 
museum  of  natural  history,  the  Cantonal  Museum,  di- 
rected by  Professor  D.  A.  Chavannes,  an  entomologist  of 
some  note.  The  Helvetic  Society  of  Natural  History, 
founded  at  Geneva  in  18 16,  had  already  collected  a  small 
band  of  Swiss  naturalists  of  great  talent,  and  Agassiz, 
during  his  stay  at  Lausanne,  had  the  good  fortune  to 
meet  Jean  de  Charpentier,  director  of  the  salt  mines  of 
Bex.  He  was  much  impressed  by  the  fine  face  and 
splendid  intellect  of  de  Charpentier ;  a  rare  and  perfect 
type  of  savant ;  and,  influenced  by  the  impression  he  re- 
ceived from  his  uncle,  Dr.  Mayor,  )<iww  de  Charpentier. 
and  Professors  Lardy  and  Chavannes,  he  resolved  to  be- 


14  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  i. 

come  a  naturalist;  and,  as  the  only  way  of  accomplishing 
this,  he  asked  his  father  to  let  him  study  medicine,  his 
ambition  at  that  time  being  to  become  a  country  doctor, 
with  full  time  and  opportunity  to  study  the  natural  his- 
tory of  the  Canton  de  Vaud. 

Agassiz  was  a  rather  precocious  young  man  ;  and 
coming  to  the  age  of  manhood,  he  was  at  once  a  great 
admirer  of  the  fair  sex.  It  had  always  been  a  charac- 
teristic of  the  Agassiz  family,  well  known  among  their 
kin  of  the  Canton  de  Vaud ;  and  Mrs.  Rose  Agassiz, 
who  knew  the  family  better  than  any  one,  and  was 
always  of  a  practical  and  far-seeing  turn  of  mind, 
as  far  back  as  January,  1828,  in  one  of  her  letters 
to  Louis,  says :  "  The  sooner  you  have  finished  your 
studies,  the  sooner  you  can  put  up  your  tent,  catch 
your  blue  butterfly,  and  metamorphose  her  into  a  lov- 
ing housewife."1  The  unusual  case  of  the  old  pastor 
Rudolphe,  the  grandfather  of  Louis,  who  married  a 
second  time  at  the  ripe  age  of  sixty-six  years,  was  much 
commented  upon  at  the  time  in  the  commonwealth. 

In  1824  Louis  went  to  the  University  of  Zurich  to 
pursue  the  medical  course  and  prepare  to  become  a 
doctor.  Zurich  was  an  old  centre  of  culture,  and  he 
found  there  genial  surroundings.  The  professor  of 
natural  history,  Schinz,  at  once  saw  the  rare  qualifica- 
tions of  Agassiz  to  become  a  naturalist,  and  gave  him 
every  opportunity  for  the  study  of  ornithology,  which 
was  his  favourite  branch.  At  Lausanne,  although  a 
very  brilliant   student,  he  was  not  so  much  above  his 

1  "  Louis  Agassiz,"  by  Mrs.  E.  C.  Agassiz,  Vol.  I.,  p.  62. 


1807-27.]  UNIVERSITY  OF  ZURICH.  15 

comrades,  for  the  Vaudois  youth  are  almost  all  very 
bright  and  remarkably  intelligent ;  but  at  Zurich  it  was 
different.  The  students  there  were,  for  the  most  part, 
German  Swiss,  rather  slow,  quiet,  steady  in  their  work, 
and  not  apt  to  awaken  interest  of  any  sort.  Agassiz  at 
once  attracted  the  attention  of  all  the  students  by  his 
quick  perception,  his  witty  remarks,  and  more  especially 
by  his  constant  show  of  varied  knowledge.  One  of  them, 
many  years  after,  said  to  me,  "Agassiz  knew  everything, 
and  he  was  always  ready  to  demonstrate  and  speak  on 
any  subject.  If  it  was  a  subject  which  he  was  not  famil- 
iar with,  he  would  study  and  rapidly  master  it ;  and  on 
the  next  occasion,  he  would  speak  in  such  brilliant  terms 
and  with  such  profound  erudition  that  he  was  a  source 
of  constant  wonder  to  all  of  us." 

At  Zurich,  Agassiz  not  only  enjoyed  the  teaching  of 
the  zoologist  Schinz,  but  he  also  often  saw  the  geologist 
Gesner  Escher,  the  celebrated  engineer  of  the  Linth 
River,  and  became  a  great  friend  of  his  son,  Arnold 
Escher  von  der  Linth;  a  friendship  which  lasted  all 
their  lives,  notwithstanding  great  difference  of  char- 
acter and  even  of  opinion,  Arnold  Escher  being  an 
observer  in  the  field,  while  Agassiz  was  more  of  a 
laboratory,  museum,  and  lecture-room  man. 

Not  only  did  Louis  Agassiz  astonish  his  fellow-stu- 
dents at  Zurich  by  the  variety  of  his  knowledge,  but  he 
was  also  a  wonder  to  them  in  his  capacity  as  a  pleas- 
ure-seeker. At  "  Kommers "  he  was  always  first  to 
come  and  last  to  go,  his  strong  constitution  requiring 
an  absorption  of  food  and  drink  which  left  all  the 
others  far  behind  him,  and  won  for  him  the  reputation 


1 6  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  I. 

of  being  what  the  French  call  a  "  belle  fourchette,"  or 
one  who  wields  a  good  knife  and  fork.  From  this  time 
he  took  for  his  motto,  "  First  at  work,  and  first  at 
play,"  and  carried  it  through  all  his  life,  with  rare 
interruptions.  Such  an  ambition  required  a  Herculean 
constitution,  which  he  certainly  possessed ;  but  notwith- 
standing his  strength,  this  burning  of  the  candle  at  both 
ends  no  doubt  finally  shortened  his  life. 

In  1826,  after  two  years  at  Zurich,  Agassiz  went  to 
the  University  of  Heidelberg,  where  he  stayed  eighteen 
months.  There  he  made  acquaintances  which  influ- 
enced him  as  much  as  he  could  be  influenced  for 
the  rest  of  his  life.  His  studies  took  a  more  decided 
direction  toward  natural  history,  under  the  leadership  of 
Professors  Tiedemann  (in  comparative  anatomy),  Leuc- 
kart  (in  zoology),  Bischoff  (in  botany),  and  H.  G. 
Bronn  (in  geology  and  palaeontology).  While  attend- 
ing the  lectures  of  Tiedemann  and  Bischoff,  Agassiz 
became  acquainted  with  Alexander  Braun  and  Karl 
Schimper,  two  very  brilliant  botanical  students ;  and 
they  very  soon  became  congenial  and  inseparable  com- 
panions, not  only  during  their  courses  at  Heidelberg 
and  afterward  at  Munich,  but  even  during  the  first 
decade  after  leaving  the  universities. 

Alexander  Braun  was  the  son  of  the  postmaster- 
general  of  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden,  who  resided  at 
Carlsruhe.  As  Heidelberg  was  very  near  Carlsruhe, 
Braun  took  home  with  him  his  three  friends,  —  Agassiz, 
Schimper,  and  Imhoff  (afterwards  a  distinguished 
entomologist  of  Bale),  —  to  pass  their  vacations.  It 
was  a  great  time,  not  only  for  the  four  intimate  young 


1807-27.]        UNIVERSITY  OF  HEIDELBERG.  17 

naturalists,  but  also  for  the  inmates  of  the  house  of 
Postmaster-general  Braun.  Besides  a  family  of  four 
children,  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  there  was  living 
in  the  family  a  young  Swiss  student,  Arnold  Guyot  of 
Neuchatel,  then  learning  the  German  language,  and 
preparing  for  the  ministry.  Postmaster-general  Braun 
was  very  scientific  in  his  tastes,  and  possessed  one  of 
the  best  collections  of  minerals  then  existing  in  Ger- 
many. His  house,  near  one  of  the  city  gates,  was  large 
enough  to  admit  and  lodge  comfortably  all  this  com- 
pany of  young  people,  who  rambled  through  the  forests 
and  fields,  ransacking  every  corner  where  plants  and 
animals  were  to  be  found.  They  had  special  rooms 
devoted  to  dissections,  true  laboratories ;  and  here  they 
brought  their  specimens,  and  for  hours  together  dis- 
cussed and  theorized  on  all  kinds  of  natural-history 
subjects. 

I  shall,  farther  on,  speak  at  length  of  Alexander 
Braun  and  his  younger  brother  Max,  and  also  of  Karl 
Schimper;  but  for  the  present  I  need  only  say  that  the 
two  daughters,  Emmy  and  Cecilia,  were  both  very 
attractive,  and  soon  received  marked  attentions,  which 
afterward  changed  into  courtship,  from  two  of  the  visit- 
ors, Louis  Agassiz  and  Karl  Schimper.  The  younger, 
Miss  Cecilia,  or  "  Cily,"  as  she  was  familiarly  called, 
possessed  a  remarkable  talent  for  drawing,  and  would 
have  become  an  artist  of  repute  if  she  had  devoted 
her  life  to  the  fine  arts.  She  was  very  sensible,  affec- 
tionate, and  unaffected,  and  soon  felt  the  influence  of 
Agassiz's  attractive  personality.  Her  talent  for  drawing- 
was  constantly  brought  into  demand  by  the  specimens 


1 8  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  i. 

of  natural  history  which  they  collected ;  and  when,  in 
the  spring  of  1827,  Agassiz  was  brought  back  to  Carls- 
ruhe  a  convalescent,  after  a  very  severe  and  dangerous 
illness  of  typhoid  fever,  the  care  bestowed  on  him  by 
the  whole  Braun  family,  and  more  especially  by  Miss 
Cecilia,  resulted  in  an  engagement  of  marriage.  Dur- 
ing his  sickness  at  Heidelberg,  Alexander  Braun  did 
not  leave  him  until  he  took  him  to  his  father's  house 
at  Carlsruhe,  as  soon  as  his  convalescence  allowed  his 
removal.  Later  he  accompanied  him  to  Orbe,  in  Switzer- 
land, where  Agassiz's  parents  were  then  living,  and  left 
him  only  when  he  saw  him  rapidly  gaining  health  in 
the  life-giving  air  of  the  "  Jura  Vaudois,"  the  native 
country  of  the  Agassiz  family. 

As  soon  as  he  had  recovered  sufficiently  to  walk 
about,  Agassiz,  who  always  was  an  excellent  pedes- 
trian, began  to  explore  the  environs  of  Orbe,  as  a  nat- 
uralist, collecting  plants,  insects,  and  his  dear  fishes ; 
for  he  never  lost  sight  of  fishes  for  any  length  of  time. 
The  Jura  Vaudois,  during  the  summer  months,  is  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  countries  to  visit,  and,  received  as 
he  was  with  great  pleasure,  as  a  guest  at  the  houses  of 
the  pastors  of  Ballaigues,  Vallorbe,  Beaulmes,  Ste. 
Croix,  and  other  places,  he  was  enabled  to  make  a 
thorough  exploration  of  Mount  Suchet,  1 591  metres  in 
height,  of  the  Dent  de  Vaulion,  i486  metres,  of  the  Ai- 
guilles de  Beaulmes,  1563  metres,  and  of  the  valley  of 
the  Orbe  River.  At  this  time  he  first  felt  that  love  for 
the  Jura  Mountains  which  lasted  until  the  end  of  his  life. 
It  was  during  this  stay  at  Orbe  that  he  wrote  his  first 
essay  in  natural  history,  a  catalogue  of  all  the  plants 


1807-27.]  STAY  AT  ORBE.  19 

growing  in  the  Jura  Vaudois.  I  do  not  know  that  it 
was  ever  published.  I  was  led  to  think  that  it  was, 
when  Agassiz,  speaking  many  years  after  of  the  Suchet 
Mountain,  which  he  remembered  with  the  freshness  of 
a  young  man  who  has  just  visited  them,  said  to  me, 
"  Do  you  know,  it  was  the  first  work  I  did  in  natural 
history  —  an  entirely  botanical  one."  I  have  been  un- 
able to  discover  the  work,  however,  and  no  one  of  his 
Swiss  family  has  ever  heard  of  it.  It  is  only  just  to  say 
that  he  was  much  helped  in  his  botanical  explorations 
round  Orbe  by  the  "  suffragan,"  or  assistant  pastor  of 
his  father,  Marc  Louis  Fivaz,  like  Agassiz  an  enthusiast 
in  natural  history.  Fivaz  soon  abandoned  all  his  re- 
searches in  natural  history,  however,  although  he  held 
the  professorship  of  botany  at  the  Academy  of  Lau- 
sanne, and  became  a  voluntary  evangelist  in  the  interior 
of  the  west  of  New  York,  where  he  lived,  in  Tioga 
County,  until  his  death. 

This  summer  of  1827,  when  he  had  just  attained  his 
twentieth  year,  gave  Agassiz  his  first  real  opportunity  to 
work  as  a  naturalist ;  and,  as  was  always  his  custom  in 
later  life,  he  induced  those  around  him  to  help  him  in 
collecting  specimens  and  in  making  drawings.  Besides 
his  friend  Marc  Fivaz,  who  accompanied  him  in  all  his 
excursions,  he  put  his  younger  sister,  Cecile,  to  work 
drawing  fishes  and  butterflies.  His  first  two  artists  of 
natural  history  specimens,  therefore,  were  two  Ccri/es, 
—  the  first,  Miss  Cecilia  Braun,  and  the  second,  Miss 
Cecile  Agassiz,  his  own  sister,  and  the  sister  of  his 
friend  Braun. 


CHAPTER   II. 

1827-1831. 

Journey   from    Carlsruhe    to    Munich  —  His    Evolution    from   a 
French-Swiss  to  a  German  Student  —  His  Duel  at  Heidelberg 

—  University  of  Munich  —  Doctor  of  Philosophy  —  Martius's 
Proposal  to  publish  Spix's  Fishes  from  Brazil  —  Publication 
of  His  First  Great  Work  on  Natural  History  —  Doctor  of 
Medicine  and  Surgery  —  Beginning  of  His  Researches  on  the 
"  Poissons    Fossiles"  —  His  Method   of  publishing   His  Works 

—  His  Desire  to  be  the  First  Naturalist  of  His  Time  —  Visit 
to  Vienna  —  Return  Home  with  Artist  Dinkel  —  Life  at  Con- 
cise—  Christinat  —  Opportune  Help  for  a  Trip  to  Paris  —  His 
Journey  "en  Zig-zag"  by  Way  of  Carlsruhe. 

In  the  autumn,  Braun  wrote  him  about  changing 
their  place  of  study  from  Heidelberg  to  Munich.  The 
attraction  there  was,  that  according  to  Dollinger,  the 
instruction  in  the  natural  sciences  left  nothing  to  be 
desired.  Accordingly,  Agassiz  left  Orbe  toward  the 
end  of  October,  1827,  and  joined  Braun  at  Carlsruhe, 
where  he  was  welcomed  by  the  whole  family  of  the 
postmaster-general  of  Baden,  more  especially  by  Miss 
Cecilia,  who  had  taken  such  good  care  of  him  when 
convalescent  during  the  previous  journey,  and  who  had 
already  made  an  excellent  portrait  of  him,  in  coloured 
pencil  or  pastel,  during  the  vacation  of  1826. 1 

1  "  Portrait  of  Louis  Agassiz  at  the  Age  of  Nineteen,"  as  frontispiece  of 
"Louis  Agassiz,  his  Life  and  Correspondence,"  by  E.  C.  Agassiz,  Vol.  I. 

20 


1827-31]  CARLSRUHE   TO  MUNICH.  21 

On  their  way  on  foot  to  Munich  they  stopped  first 
at  Stuttgart,  where  the  Royal  Museum,  already  quite 
prominent,  attracted  much  of  the  attention  and  even 
admiration  of  Agassiz.  A  splendid  North  American 
buffalo,  and  a  piece  of  the  hide  of  a  Siberian  mammoth, 
with  hairs  still  attached,  excited  his  wonder  and  his 
imagination ;  for  he  thought  that  the  mammoth's 
teeth  showed  that  it  was  a  carnivorous  animal ;  but  the 
question  that  interested  him  most  was,  how  this  ani- 
mal could  have  wandered  so  far  north,  and  in  what 
manner  he  died,  to  be  frozen  thus,  and  remain  intact, 
perhaps  for  countless  ages.  He  little  realized  that  it 
was  reserved  for  him  some  day  to  give  the  explanation, 
and  that  he  was  to  be  the  god-father  of  the  "  Ice-age." 

At  Esslingen,  Agassiz  and  Braun  stopped  to  visit  two 
botanists,  and  make  exchanges  of  specimens.  As  Agas- 
siz had  a  good  collection  of  dried  plants  from  the  Jura 
Vaudois,  and  Braun  of  the  Palatinate,  they  presented 
themselves,  each  with  a  package  of  dried  plants  under 
his  arm,  and  were  well  received ;  more  especially  by 
Professor  von  Hochstetter,  the  father  of  the  afterward 
celebrated  naturalist,  Ferdinand  von  Hochstetter  of  the 
"  Novara  "  expedition  round  the  world,  and  first  director 
of  the  great  Natural  History  Museum  of  Vienna. 

On  the  fourth  of  November,  1827,  Agassiz  and  Braun 
alighted  at  Munich ;  and  a  few  days  afterward  they 
were  joined  by  the  other  member  of  the  trio  of  friends, 
Karl  Schimper,  Until  then  Agassiz  had  remained  a  true 
Swiss  ;  his  stay  at  Heidelberg  had  not  been  long  enough 
nor  successful  enough,  on  account  of  his  health,  to  make 
any  change  in  him.     But  as  soon  as  he  was  settled  at 


22  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ii. 

Munich,  a  change  began  in  his  mind,  his  thought,  and 
even  his  body;  and  when  he  left  Munich,  three  years 
later,  on  the  fourth  of  December,  1830,  he  was  entirely 
a  German ;  so  much  so,  that  his  Swiss  friends  had 
some  difficulty  in  getting  acquainted  with  him  again. 
It  was  his  first  transformation  ;  several  others  succeeded, 
as  we  shall  see  by  and  by. 

Munich  was  then  the  most  celebrated  university  in 
Germany,  counting  among  its  professors  such  men  as 
Oken,  Martius,  and  Dollinger.  It  was  at  the  house  of 
Dollinger  that  the  three  friends  found  lodging ;  occupy- 
ing rooms  which  soon  became  laboratories,  lecture  rooms, 
and  the  rendezvous  of  many  of  their  classmates. 
Agassiz  afterward  had  occasion  to  give  a  vivid  descrip- 
tion of  their  student  life,  in  his  paper,  "  Erwiederung 
auf  Dr.  Karl  Schimper's  Angriffe  "  (Neuchatel,  Novem- 
ber, 1842,  4to).  In  those  days  friendship  reigned. 
Almost  everything  was  enjoyed  in  common ;  work, 
pleasure,  journeys,  pipes,  beer,  purses,  clothes,  ideas 
political  and  philosophical,  or  poetical,  and  even  liter- 
ary. In  fact,  it  was  a  constant,  enthusiastic,  intellectual 
life,  lived  at  high  pressure,  lacking  in  nothing  ;  not  even 
student  duels,  and  escapades  of  a  more  riotous  nature, 
after  grand  "  Kommers." 

Agassiz  enjoyed  among  the  students  the  reputation 
of  being  the  best  fencer  in  the  various  students'  clubs. 
The  reputation  was  gained  in  this  way  :  When  at  Heidel- 
berg, an  insult  to  the  Swiss  clan  (Burschenschaft)  of 
which  Agassiz  was  the  president  was  considered  so 
serious  among  the  students,  that  a  challenge  was  sent 
by  Agassiz  to  the  German  club.     At  a  meeting  of  the 


I827-31-]  DUEL  AT  HEIDELBERG.  23 

German  students,  a  choice  was  made  of  one  of  their 
best  swordsmen  to  meet  him.  Agassiz,  however,  would 
not  accept  such  conditions,  but  said  proudly,  "  It  is  not 
with  one  of  you  that  I  want  to  fight,  but  with  all,  one 
after  another."  They  marched  to  the  chosen  ground, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  four  German  students  had  received 
sword  cuts  on  their  faces ;  then  the  others  who  were 
to  follow  began  to  think  that  the  affair  had  gone  far 
enough,  and  although  invited  by  Agassiz  to  take  position, 
they  offered  honourable  peace,  and  made  an  apology. 
After  that,  Agassiz  was  always  chosen  as  arbitrator  and 
judge  at  all  the  fencing  clubs  of  the  universities  of 
Heidelberg  and  Munich.  He  was  so  carried  away  by 
his  pleasure  in  fencing,  that  one  day,  without  remem- 
bering to  put  on  masks,  he  and  his  future  brother-in-law, 
Alexander  Braun,  fell  in  with  rapiers  in  hand,  and  after 
a  few  exchanges  of  thrusts,  Agassiz  made  a  cut  in  the 
face  of  his  dear  friend.  Years  after,  when  a  professor 
at  Neuchatel,  he  appeared  at  a  public  fencing  exhibi- 
tion given  by  a  tall  and  powerful  negro  fencing  master, 
with  success  and  credit. 

Schimper,  who  was  the  oldest  of  the  three,  and  whose 
imagination  was  the  keenest  and  most  original,  exerted 
a  great  influence  over  Agassiz  and  Braun.  His  discov- 
eries in  regard  to  the  morphology  of  plants  gave  him 
great  advantage  over  the  two  others,  who  had  not  yet 
done  any  original  work.  But  Agassiz  was  not  the  man 
to  be  long  overshadowed  by  any  one.  He  wanted  to 
occupy  the  first  place  everywhere.  Happily  he  escaped 
the  danger  to  which  Schimper  succumbed,  and,  with 
the  help  of  Braun,  whose  mind  was  the  best  balanced 


24  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ii. 

of  the  three  friends,  Agassiz  kept  out  of  temptation, 
and  expended  his  impetuous  nature  in  solid  and  difficult 
work  on  fishes,  living  and  fossil. 

Strange  to  say,  with  an  allowance  of  only  $250  a 
year,  Agassiz  managed  constantly  to  keep  in  his  pay 
an  artist,  Dinkel,  to  draw  fossil  and  living  fishes , 
and,  occasionally,  a  second  artist,  Mr.  J.  C.  Weber, 
to  draw  the  Spix  fishes  and  pieces  of  anatomy.  They 
formed  a  sort  of  fraternal  association.  As  Agassiz 
said,  "  They  were  even  poorer  than  I,  and  so  we  man- 
aged to  get  along  together."  Their  fare  was  certainly 
very  simple ;  bread,  cheese,  beer,  and  tobacco  being  the 
main  articles.  Imagine  Agassiz,  with  his  scanty  allow- 
ance, providing  for  two  artists,  besides  Karl  Schimper, 
and  his  younger  brother,  William  Schimper.  To  be  sure, 
Alexander  Braun  helped  much  also.  But  if  we  sup- 
pose that  Braun  got  $300  a  year  from  his  father,  six 
young  men  between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  twenty-five 
had  to  live  upon  less  than  $600  a  year,  out  of  which 
also  they  had  to  pay  for  their  studies  at  the  univer- 
sity, and  provide  themselves  with  instruments,  and  books, 
and  clothing.  Agassiz  got  a  little  money  from  the 
"  Brazilian  Fishes  "  and  some  other  writing,  with  which 
he  purchased  a  microscope  —  a  rather  expensive  instru- 
ment —  and  several  books  ;  and  he  received,  as  a  gift 
from  Professor  Dollinger,  a  copy  of  the  finely  illus- 
trated work  on  living  fishes,  by  the  great  French  ich- 
thyologist, Rondelet,  of  Montpellier.  The  editor  Cotta 
sent  him  also  a  certain  number  of  expensive  natural 
history  books. 

"  I  cannot  review  my  Munich  life  without  great  grati- 


1827-31-]  UNIVERSITY   OF  MUNICH.  25 

tude,"  Agassiz  says.  He  was  there  a  most  happy  and 
successful  young  man,  using  all  the  scientific  resources 
existing  in  that  large  and  progressive  city ;  drawing 
round  him  comrades  of  the  University,  and  even  pro- 
fessors ;  and  receiving  visits  from  naturalists  of  renown, 
including  the  great  anatomist  Meckel.  His  room  in  the 
house  of  Dollinger,  being  the  largest,  was  used  as 
lecture  room,  assembly  room,  laboratory,  and  museum. 
Some  one  was  always  coming  or  going  ;  the  half-dozen 
chairs  were  covered  with  books,  piled  one  upon  another, 
hardly  one  being  left  for  use,  and  visitors  were  fre- 
quently obliged  to  remove  books  and  put  them  on  the 
floor ;  the  bed,  also,  was  used  as  a  seat,  and  as  a  recep- 
tacle for  specimens,  drawings,  and  papers.  According 
to  Agassiz,  the  tobacco  smoke  was  sometimes  so  thick 
it  mi^ht  have  been  cut  with  a  knife. 

Agassiz  was  the  most  prominent  among  the  students. 
His  acquaintance  was  courted  by  all.  He  was  specially 
considered  with  much  pride  by  all  the  Swiss  students, 
and  was  welcome  both  in  the  rooms  and  yards  of  the 
University,  and  at  the  students'  clubs,  "  Bierbrauerei," 
and  fencing  rooms.  He  was  considered  a  most  amiable 
companion,  never  losing  his  temper,  always  smiling  and 
apparently  contented  and  happy.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
he  remembered  so  vividly  his  student  life  at  Munich, 
and  was  always  grateful  for  it.  Although  at  Munich  he 
learned  embryology  from  Dollinger,  who  gave  him  per- 
sonal instructions  in  the  use  of  the  microscope,  and 
followed  the  lectures  of  the  great  philosopher  Schelling, 
as  well  as  the  fascinating  teaching  of  Oken,  with  his 
a  priori  conceptions  of  the  relations  of  the  three  king- 


26  LOUIS  AGASSI/..  [chap.  ii. 

doms  into  which  he  divided  all  living  beings  ;  he  was 
not  instructed  then  either  in  palaeontology  or  in  geology, 
the  two  branches  of  science  in  which  he  became  after- 
ward preeminent.  The  only  teacher  he  ever  had 
in  those  two  sciences  was  Professor  H.  G.  Bronn  at 
Heidelberg,  a  rather  second-rate  palaeontologist,  but  a 
very  industrious  and  prolific  writer. 

Although  Agassiz  came  to  Munich  for  the  special 
purpose  of  taking  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine, 
his  studies  soon  drifted  from  those  of  a  medical  student 
to  those  of  a  true  naturalist.  This  change  was  not 
made  without  warnings  from  his  father,  who  became 
alarmed  by  the  rather  large  expenses  incurred  by  his 
son,1  and  more  so  by  his  neglect  of  his  medical  studies. 
But  Louis  Agassiz  was  born  a  naturalist,  and  a 
naturalist  he  must  be ;  and,  notwithstanding  all  sorts  of 
difficulties,  with  the  help  of  his  mother,  who  always 
favoured  his  desires,  he  carried  through  his  scheme  of 
seeking  a  professorship  of  natural  history. 

His  first  step,  in  regard  to  graduation,  was  to  secure  not 
a  title  of  medical  doctor  and  surgeon,  but  of  doctor  of 
philosophy,  which  he  won,  in  the  spring  of  1829,  at  the 
University  of  Erlangen.    The  excuse  for  so  doing  was  a 

1  Agassiz's  good  heart  had  already,  when  at  Heidelberg,  led  him  to 
help,  pecuniarily,  Karl  Schimper,  and  as  soon  as  established  at  Munich,  he 
sent  Schimper  money  to  pay  the  expense  of  his  journey,  and  invited  him 
to  join  them  in  their  lodging.  Schimper  not  only  came  directly,  but 
brought  with  him  his  brother  William.  Agassiz's  income  was  henceforth, 
on  this  account,  limited  in  proportion.  It  must  now  suffice  for  the  main- 
tenance of  a  friend;  for  as  soon  as  Schimper  arrived,  Agassiz  gave  him 
the  key  of  his  chest  in  which  was  his  money;  and,  during  the  three  years 
of  his  stay  at  Munich,  he,  in  fact,  gave  to  Schimper  the  means  to  satisfy  all 
his  needs  —  a  rare  example  of  generosity. 


1827-31-]  FISHES  FROM  BRAZIL.  27 

clever  one.  Martius  had  proposed  to  him  to  publish  the 
fishes  of  Brazil  collected  by  Spix  and  himself  during 
their  explorations  on  the  Amazon,  from  18 17  to  1821. 
Spix  having  died  in  1826,  before  finishing  the  publication 
of  the  zoological  part,  Martius,  who  possessed  excellent 
judgment  and  great  insight  into  character,  saw  at  once 
the  ability  of  young  Agassiz  as  a  describer  of  species, 
and  proposed  to  him,  during  the  summer  of  1828,  to 
take  the  fishes.  The  offer  was  certainly  most  flat- 
tering to  Agassiz,  then  in  his  twenty-first  year,  and 
before  he  had  yet  published  anything  to  recommend 
him.  Martius  assumed  all  the  expenses  and,  of  course, 
all  the  profits ;  and  Agassiz  received  as  his  share  only 
a  few  copies  of  the  book,  with  an  atlas  of  beautifully 
coloured  fishes.  Before  the  book  was  issued,  Martius 
told  him  that  it  was  important  that  his  name  should 
have  the  title  of  doctor  of  philosophy  attached  to  it,  and 
that  at  the  same  time  it  would  help  him  to  get  a  pro- 
fessorship of  natural  history. 

However,  that  title  would  not  do  as  a  substitute  for 
his  medical  degree,  and,  bracing  his  courage,  he  worked 
hard,  and  prepared  his  theses  with  great  success  ;  for 
when  he  received  his  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  and 
surgery,  the  3d  of  April,  1830,  the  dean  said  to  him: 
"  The  faculty  have  been  very  much  pleased  with  your 
answers;  they  congratulate  themselves  on  being  able 
to  give  the  diploma  to  a  young  man  who  has  already 
acquired  so  honourable  a  reputation."  It  was  nine 
months  after  the  publication  of  his  great  work  on  the 
fishes  of  Brazil,  a  folio  with  ninety  plates,  which  had 
attracted  the  attention  of  all  naturalists,  more  especially 


28  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  n. 

of  George  Cuvier,  the  greatest  ichthyologist  of  his  time, 
who  was  then  engaged  on  his  celebrated  work  "  His- 
toire  des  Poissons."  Agassiz's  work,  which  was  dedi- 
cated to  Cuvier,  is  written  in  Latin,  and  possesses  the 
qualities  so  prominent  in  all  Agassiz's  publications ; 
namely,  accurate  descriptions  of  the  species,  and  excel- 
lent and  even  beautiful  figures.  It  is  most  creditable  in 
every  way,  and  it  furnished  a  sound  basis  for  Agassiz's 
reputation  as  an  ichthyologist  of  the  first  rank,  although 
he  was  only  twenty-two  years  old. 

This  first  success  was  much  enjoyed  by  his  family 
and  his  friends,  and  prompted  him  to  undertake  a  task 
which  was  sure  to  place  him  in  the  front  rank  as  a 
naturalist,  "  hors  ligne."  Soon  after  the  vacation  of 
1829,  which  was  spent  at  Heidelberg,  Carlsruhe,  and 
Orbe,  the  director  of  the  museum  at  Munich  offered 
to  Agassiz  every  facility  to  work  at  the  collection  of 
fossil  fishes,  allowing  him  to  carry  the  specimens  to  his 
room.  As  the  director  of  the  Strasbourg  Museum,  the 
mining  engineer  Voltz,  and  Professor  Bronn  of  Heidel- 
berg had  made  the  same  offer,  Agassiz,  seeing  what  a 
splendid  work  was  laid  before  him,  did  not  hesitate  to 
undertake  it,  notwithstanding  the  great  difficulties,  both 
material  and  scientific. 

A  few  words  should  be  said  in  regard  to  his  method 
of  undertaking  work  without  being  sure  beforehand 
of  the  means  to  carry  it  on  successfully.  For  example, 
in  the  case  of  his  "  Poissons  fossiles,"  as  we  shall 
see,  he  first  tried  a  M.  Cotta,  a  publisher  of  Stutt- 
gart, and  when  the  latter  failed  to  come  to  a  final 
agreement  for  want  of  knowledge  as  to  his  part  of  the 


1827-3 1 ■]        WORKS  OAT  NATURAL  HISTORY.  29 

expense  to  be  incurred  (for  Agassiz  never  knew  before- 
hand what  his  work  would  be,  even  approximately,  as 
to  quantity  of  text  and  plates),  he  found  that  he  could 
rely  upon  no  one,  but  must  himself  publish  his  rather 
expensive  work.  Martius's  work  on  Brazil  was  aided 
by  a  large  subscription  from  the  purse  of  the  king  of 
Bavaria.  The  only  country  in  which  it  was  possible  to 
find  a  publisher  for  a  very  expensive  work  on  natural 
history  was  France ;  and  even  there  publishers  required 
a  certain  number  of  subscriptions  from  the  government 
before  accepting  the  charge.  "  The  Mineral  Conchol- 
ogy  of  Great  Britain "  had  involved  great  expense, 
without  proper  return,  and  was  anything  but  a  success 
in  a  pecuniary  way.  Goldfuss's  "  Petrefacta  Germania," 
then  in  course  of  publication,  1826-44,  was  supported 
only  by  the  personal  sacrifice  of  the  author  himself. 
Even  Cuvier's  great  work  on  the  "  ossements  fossiles ' 
was  not  successful  from  a  bookseller's  point  of  view, 
and  without  the  help  of  the  French  government  it 
would  have  been  impossible  to  publish  it. 

If  Agassiz  had  been  a  business  man,  or  a  good  man- 
ager, he  might  have  succeeded  in  having  his  work  on 
the  fossil  fishes  published  in  Paris,  with  a  sufficient 
subscription  from  the  Secretary  of  Public  Instruction  to 
carry  on  the  work,  if  not  at  a  profit,  at  least  without 
loss  on  his  part ;  for  Cuvier  was  then  publishing  his 
"  Histoire  Naturelle  des  Poissons  "  in  that  way;  and  if 
that  great  work,  finished  after  the  death  of  Cuvier 
by  Valenciennes,  was  not  a  pecuniary  success,  it  en- 
tailed at  least  no  expense  upon  its  two  authors. 

Agassiz  always  acted  as  if  he  were  a  very  rich  man ; 


30  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ii. 

and  now,  taking  an  excellent  artist,  Joseph  Dinkel,  into 
his  service,  he  had  him  draw  all  the  fossil  fishes  he 
could  find  in  the  different  museums ;  and,  full  of  hope 
and  never  thinking  of  the  morrow,  he  began  his  "  Pois- 
sons  fossiles,"  trusting  to  good  luck  and  his  power  of 
persuasion.  He  was  not  patient  enough  to  wait  for  the 
proper  moment.  With  him  time  was  money,  and  he 
pushed  forward  without  regard  to  consequences.  He 
had  such  self-confidence  that  it  is  almost  amusing  to 
see  him  writing  to  his  father  from  Munich,  Feb.  14, 
1829 :  "  I  wish  it  may  be  said  of  Louis  Agassiz  that  he 
was  the  first  naturalist  of  his  time,  a  good  citizen,  and 
a  good  son,  beloved  by  those  who  knew  him.  I  feel 
within  myself  the  strength  of  a  whole  generation  to 
work  toward  this  end,  and  I  will  reach  it  if  the  means 
are  not  wanting."  Strange  to  say,  he  attained  his  aim  ; 
if  not  the  first,  he  was  certainly  one  of  the  first  natu- 
ralists of  the  nineteenth  century ;  he  was  a  good  citizen 
of  Switzerland  and  afterward  of  the  United  States,  a 
devoted  son  to  his  father  and  mother,  and  beloved,  if 
not  by  all,  certainly  by  a  great  many  of  those  who 
knew  him  in  Europe  and  in  America.  This  intuition 
of  his  capacity  and  strength,  this  thought  that  he  had 
concentrated  in  him  the  powers  of  all  his  ancestors  to 
observe  and  work  on  natural  history,  is  something 
almost  wonderful  in  its  naivete.  It  is  not  strange 
that  his  father  was  often  frightened  for  the  future  of 
such  a  prodigy,  for  such  certainly  Louis  Agassiz  was. 

During  his  stay  in  Munich,  he  went  home  only  once, 
spending  there  the  two  months  of  October  and  Novem- 
ber, 1829.     His  time  was  passed  mainly  at  the  parson- 


1 827-3 1. J  VISIT  TO    VIENNA.  31 

age  of  Orbe,  and  at  Cudrefin,  near  his  good  grandfather, 
Dr.  Mayor,  who  died  during  Louis's  visit.  As  soon  as 
he  returned  to  Munich  in  December,  1829,  he  began  his 
great  work  on  the  "  Poissons  fossiles,"  pursuing  at  the 
same  time  his  medical  studies,  and,  as  we  have  seen, 
successfully  passing  his  examinations,  the  subjects  being 
anatomical,  pathological,  surgical,  obstetrical,  with  in- 
quiries into  "  materia  medica,"  "  medica  forensis,"  and 
the  relation  of  botany  to  these  topics,  as  it  is  printed  in 
his  "  Einladung." 

As  soon  as  his  examination  and  the  ceremony  of  re- 
ceiving the  degree  from  the  rector  of  the  University  were 
over,  he  started  for  Vienna,  where  he  passed  almost 
two  months.  It  was  a  great  gratification  to  him'  to  find 
that  his  reputation  had  reached  Vienna,  for  he  was 
received  there,  by  professors  and  curators  of  museums, 
as  "an  associate  already  known."  He  looked  specially 
at  fossil  fishes,  and  made  memoranda  of  all  the  speci- 
mens, to  be  used  afterward  in  his  great  work.  His 
memory  was  so  good,  his  eye  so  accurate,  that  many 
years  afterward,  when  looking  at  fossil  fishes  at  Neu- 
chatel,  he  one  day  said  :  "  I  have  seen  before  another 
specimen  of  this  same  species  in  the  museum  at 
Vienna"  ;  even  going  so  far  as  to  indicate  the  drawer 
in  which  it  was  stored.  The  director  at  Vienna,  on 
being  written  in  regard  to  it,  answered  that  he  had 
found  the  fossil  fish  where  Agassiz  had  indicated  that 
it  was,  and  sent  it  at  once.  It  was,  as  Agassiz  said,  of 
the  same  species. 

Agassiz's  last  letter  from  Munich  to  his  parents  is 
dated  Nov.  26,  1830.     He  left  Munich  the  4th  of  De- 


32  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ii. 

cember,  1830,  after  settling  all  his  accounts  and  expen- 
ditures, taking  with  him  his  draughtsman,  Dinkel,  to 
the  great  amazement  of  his  father,  who  did  not  relish 
the  arrival  of  his, son's  friend  at  his  new  parsonage  at 
Concise,  whither  he  had  just  removed  from  Orbe.  His 
protest,  that  there  was  no  room  for  another  person,  was 
of  no  avail.  Louis  wrote  him  that  Dinkel  was  not  in 
his  pay,  but  was  provided  for  by  his  publisher,  M. 
Cotta,  and  that  an  agreement  had  been  made  for  him 
to  accompany  Agassiz  in  future  wherever  he  should 
go.  Accordingly,  one  morning  in  December,  1830,  he 
arrived  with  Dinkel,  who  was  lodged  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, and  came  every  day  to  Louis's  room  to  draw 
fishes. 

The  parsonage  of  the  village  of  Concise  is  beautifully 
situated  close  to  the  north  of  the  church,  with  a  ter- 
race and  garden  overlooking  the  Lake  of  Neuchatel,  and 
commanding  some  of  the  most  beautiful  and  extensive 
scenery  in  Switzerland.  The  room  occupied  by  Louis 
Agassiz  was  on  the  first  story,  according  to  the  way 
of  counting  stories  in  Switzerland ;  the  second  story, 
according  to  the  American  way,  at  the  southeast  corner 
of  the  parsonage,  close  by  the  churchyard.  There  he 
was  seen  constantly  at  the  window,  with  his  long  mous- 
taches, smoking,  and  hard  at  work  with  specimens. 

The  arrival  of  the  parson's  son,  with  his  draughts- 
man, both  dressed  more  or  less  as  German  students, 
with  small  caps  on  their  heads,  and  long  pipes  in  their 
mouths,  greatly  excited  the  curiosity  of  the  quiet  vil- 
lagers. On  Sunday  they  used  to  row  on  the  lake,  and, 
with  long  poles,  passed  their  time  in  breaking  the  pot- 


1827-31.]  LIFE  AT  CONCISE.  33 

tery  jars,  easily  seen  at  the  bottom  through  the  trans- 
parent blue,  water,  an  amusement  the  young  men  of 
Concise  were  somewhat  addicted  to.  How  little  Agassiz 
then  thought  that  he  was  doing  the  work  of  a  true  bar- 
barian, destroying  pottery  utensils  which  had  belonged 
to  his  ancestors,  the  lake-dwellers  of  prehistoric  time  ! 
After  the  discoveries  of  Keller  at  the  Zurich  Lake, 
Agassiz,  remembering  what  he  did  in  183 1  on  the  Lake 
of  Neuchatel,  exclaimed  :  "  How  foolish  I  was  !  Dinkel 
and  I  have  in  sport  broken  dozens  of  important  prehis- 
toric pieces  of  pottery." 

Almost  a  year  of  good  work  was  passed  at  home,  with 
nothing  to  disturb  him,  writing  his  "  Poissons  fossiles ' 
and  directing  Dinkel's  drawings.  It  was  a  great  change 
after  his  rather  boisterous  student  life  at  Munich.  His 
habitual  audience  of  fifteen  or  twenty  persons,  meeting 
daily  in  his  room,  and  called  the  "  Little  Academy"  by 
common  consent,  by  both  students  and  professors,  was 
now  reduced  to  Dinkel  and  his  own  family  circle,  with 
a  few  friends,  relatives,  and  old  acquaintances,  who 
came  in  now  and  then,  and  were  rather  surprised,  but 
unable  to  appreciate  the  work  in  which  Louis  was  so 
deeply  engaged. 

Finally,  the  attraction  of  Paris  proved  too  great,  and 
to  Paris  he  resolved  to  go,  —  a  determination  which  he 
found  not  easy  to  carry  into  effect. 

He  had  exhausted  the  paternal  purse,  and  money 
was  difficult  to  secure.  At  this  critical  moment  came 
assistance,  which  was  prompted  entirely  by  friendly 
admiration  and  confidence  in  his  future.  An  old  friend 
of    his   father,   a    pastor  of    the  Canton    de    Vaud,    M. 

D 


34  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ii. 

Christinat,  who  had  always  been  very  fond  of  Louis 
since  his  childhood,  came  one  day  and  simply  put  in 
his  hand  a  sum  of  money  sufficient  for  a  journey  to 
Paris.  Helped  also  by  his  uncle  Mayor  of  Neuchatel, 
and  his  publisher  Cotta,  he  was  able  to  start  on  his 
much-desired  journey  to  see  Cuvier  and  enlarge  his 
field  of  study  of  "  poissons  fossiles  "  in  the  great  collec- 
tions of  Paris.  Agassiz  never  forgot  the  generosity  of 
Christinat,  and  after  the  death  of  his  father  he  always 
considered  Christinat  a  second  father,  feeling  for  him  a 
true  filial  love. 

He  took  "  le  chemin  des  ecoliers  "  for  Paris,  passing 
by  Stuttgart,  Carlsruhe,  Heidelberg,  and  Strasbourg,  "  to 
collect,"  as  he  says,  "for  my  fossil  fishes  all  the  ma- 
terial I  still  desired,  and  to  extend  my  knowledge  of 
geology  sufficiently  to  join,  without  embarrassment  at 
least,  in  conversation  upon  the  more  recent  researches 
in  that  department."  To  be  sure,  he  took  with  him 
his  draughtsman  Dinkel ;  but  the  "zigzag'  journey 
was  made  mainly  in  order  to  see  the  Braun  family, 
and  more  especially  Miss  Cecilia  and  his  dear  classmate 
and  friend,  Alexander  Braun,  the  best  companion  of  his 
student  life.  Braun  was  the  most  reasonable  by  far 
of  the  trio,  Agassiz,  Braun,  and  Schimper ;  he  was  also 
the  most  steady  and  persevering  as  a  student.  His 
knowledge  of  geology  was  far  superior  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  Agassiz  in  that  branch  of  natural  history;  and 
Agassiz's  avowed  desire,  as  it  were,  to  interview  Alex- 
ander Braun  on  recent  researches  shows  the  method 
constantly  used  afterward  by  him  for  learning  and  keep- 
ing himself  informed  as  to  the  progress  and  condition 


1 827-3 1 .]  VISIT  TO   CARLSRUHE.  35 

of  geology.  During  all  his  stay  in  America,  I  was 
interviewed  on  my  return  from  trips  to  Europe,  or 
the  interior  part  of  the  United  States  and  Canada. 
Agassiz,  with  his  remarkable  memory,  his  keen  per- 
ceptions of  new  discoveries,  and  his  easy  way  of  mar- 
shalling facts  and  using  them  afterward  in  his  lectures 
or  papers,  would  ply  me  with  questions  during  two  or 
three  hours,  in  regard  to  all  I  had  learned  during  my 
absence  from  Cambridge.  It  was  a  peculiar  and  rather 
original  way  of  learning  the  more  recent  researches  and 
the  history  of  the  progress  of  geology.  But  to  make 
use  of  the  facts  without  too  much  blundering  required 
the  splendid  and  rare  qualities  of  an  Agassiz. 

In  the  letter  to  his  mother,  dated  Carlsruhe,  Novem- 
ber, 183 1,  in  which  he  speaks  of  his  visit  to  the  Brauns, 
he  says :  "  I  have  added  to  my  work  on  the  fossil  fishes 
one  hundred  and  seventy-one  pages  of  manuscript  in 
French,  written  between  my  excursions  and  in  the 
midst  of  other  occupations."  It  is  to  be  regretted  that, 
with  such  facility  as  a  scientific  writer,  he  gave  up 
almost  all  writing  after  1837,  trusting  to  secretaries, 
assistants,  and  stenographers. 


CHAPTER   III. 
1831-1832. 

First  Visit  to  Paris — His  Relations  with  Cuvier  —  Humboldt 
charmed  with  hlm — hls  vlsit  to  the  seashore  at  dieppe  — 
Death  of  Cuvier — Sketch  of  Cuvier's  Life  —  Cuvier  and  Geof- 
froy  St.  Hilaire  —  Their  Discussion  before  the  French  Acad- 
emy of  Science  —  Cuvier's  Influence  on  Agassiz  —  Difficulty  of 
getting  an  official  position  in  paris  —  appointed  professor  at 
the  Lyceum  of  NeuchAtel. 

On  the  16th  of  December,  183 1,  after  travelling  by 
diligence  for  two  days  and  three  nights,  on  the  road 
between  Strasbourg  and  Paris,  Agassiz  and  Dinkel 
alighted  in  the  great  crowded  courtyard  of  the  "  Messa- 
geries  Royales,"  rue  Montmartre,  so  tired  that  they 
could  hardly  move  hand  or  foot.  The  fatigue  of  these 
long  journeys,  in  diligences,  can  hardly  be  realized  now. 

Packed  in  the  rotunda  with  six  often  disagreeable 
neighbours,  all  breathing  the  same  foul  air,  and  jostled 
and  even  severely  shaken  from  the  bad  roads,  over 
which  the  diligence  had  to  run,  it  was  a  great  relief, 
first  when  the  paved  roads  were  reached,  eighty  miles 
before  the  arrival  in  Paris,  and  later  when  the  great 
stagecoach  finally  turned  into  the  courtyard  of  the 
"  Messageries."  It  was  an  interesting  sight  for  Agassiz 
to  watch  the  diligences,  arriving  or  starting,  with  promi- 

36 


1831-32.']  ARRIVAL   IX  PARTS.    '  yj 

nent  names,  such  as  Forback,  Bruxelles,  Dunkerque, 
Calais,  le  Havre,  Cherbourg,  Brest,  Nantes,  Bordeaux, 
Bayonne,  Toulouse,  Perpignan,  Montpellier,  Marseilles, 
Lyon,  Besancon,  etc.  Nearly  every  tongue  was  heard 
there,  and  the  weary  look  of  the  arriving  passengers 
was  something  not  to  be  forgotten.  He  had  not  seen 
anything  approaching  the  scene  in  Southern  Germany, 
or  even  in  Vienna.  However,  he  soon  found  his  way  to 
the  rue  Copau,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Seine,  and 
alighted  finally  at  the  "Hotel  du  Jardin  du  Roi,"  No.  4, 
just  opposite  the  "  Hospital  de  la  Pitie,"  and  close  by 
the  Jardin  des  Plantes.  This  third-rate  hotel  has  always 
been  a  place  of  resort  for  naturalists,  —  French  as  well 
as  foreign,  —  on  account  of  its  proximity  to  the  great 
Museum  of  Natural  History.  The  prices  there  were 
moderate  and  the  fare  good;  a  part  of  the  old  hotel, 
and  the  most  desirable,  was  situated  between  a  paved 
yard  and  a  garden.  It  was  here  that  Agassiz  and 
Dinkel  got  a  room.  Sixteen  years  later,  I  saw  Agassiz 
occupying  the  same  room,  quite  proud  to  show  that 
nothing  had  been  changed  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
furniture.  There  were  the  same  shelves  for  books, 
where  he  placed,  as  he  told  me,  the  first  works  offered 
to  him  by  both  Cuvier  and  Humboldt ;  the  only  altera- 
tion being  the  removal  of  the  small  bedstead  on  which 
Dinkel  slept. 

As  soon  as  Cuvier  heard  of  his  arrival,  he  sent  for 
him ;  and  Agassiz  passed  his  second  evening  in  Paris 
at  the  house  of  the  great  French  naturalist.  His  re- 
ception was  cordial  and  friendly,  although  with  some 
reserve  ;  for  Cuvier  was  not  a  man  of  many  words.      1  lis 


33  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  hi. 

politeness  was  dignified,  his  manner  that  of  a  courtier 
accustomed  to  move  among  men  in  high  office  or  of 
great  social  position.  But  he  was  kindly  disposed  and 
good  hearted,  his  most  notable  characteristic  being  a 
kindliness  directed  right  to  the  point,  in  order  that  no 
time  might  be  lost.  He  always  acted  as  if  every  hour 
was  extremely  valuable  to  him,  working  methodically ; 
each  day,  each  hour,  having  its  task  appointed  in 
advance,  and  he  was  reluctant  to  be  interrupted  or 
interfered  with  in  the  course  of  his  researches  or 
thoughts.  The  first  meeting  was  more  than  satisfac- 
tory to  Agassiz,  who  had  not  expected  such  a  friendly 
reception,  which,  in  his  own  words,  "  more  than  fulfilled 
his  expectations."  He  was  absolutely  astounded  by 
the  great  erudition,  the  prodigious  memory,  and  the 
extreme  facility  of  Cuvier  in  passing  from  one  ardu- 
ous subject  to  another.  Agassiz  was  more  than 
charmed ;  he  was  actually  astonished  by  the  immense 
amount  of  knowledge  accumulated  in  the  brain  of  a 
single  man.  This  first  impression  was  never  changed ; 
and  the  more  he  knew  of  Cuvier,  the  more  he  admired 
him.  Agassiz  had  found  his  master,  and  his  leader  for 
life. 

After  a  few  days  of  intercourse,  Cuvier  was  so  satis- 
fied with  the  author  of  the  Brazilian  fishes  that  he  gave 
him  and  his  artist  a  corner  in  one  of  his  laboratories,  — 
the  one  devoted  to  fishes ;  for  Cuvier  possessed  a  lab- 
oratory for  each  of  his  works,  where  was  accumulated 
everything  pertaining  to  the  subject,  such  as  specimens, 
drawings,  and  books,  in  order  not  to  lose  time.  The 
arrangement  was  a  matter  of  wonder  to  Agassiz,  who 


1831-32.]  RELATIONS    WITH   CUVIER.  39 

tried  afterward  —  always  in  vain — to  secure  the  same 
orderliness  for  himself.  But  later  I  shall  give  the  rea- 
son why  Cuvier  was  able  to  organize  his  time  and  labora- 
tories, and  why  Agassiz  always  failed  to  do  so. 

Agassiz's  main  object  in  coming  to  Paris  was  to  col- 
lect material  for  his  "  Poissons  fossiles,"  and  at  the 
same  time  to  become  acquainted  with  Cuvier  and  some 
other  French  naturalists,  in  the  hope  that  he  might  find 
an  official  position  in  such  a  great  establishment  as  the 
Jardin  des  Plantes.  Cuvier  watched  him  attentively, 
and  was  so  pleased  with  what  he  saw,  that  he  deliber- 
ately decided  to  renounce  his  project  of  publishing,  as 
he  had  intended,  a  work  on  fossil  fishes  ;  and  with  great 
generosity  —  too  rare  among  savants  —  he  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  young  Agassiz  all  the  materials,  drawings, 
and  notes  which  he  had  collected  at  the  British  Museum, 
at  Avignon,  and  elsewhere,  during  more  than  fifteen 
years. 

It  was  at  one  of  his  weekly  Saturday  evening  recep- 
tions that  Cuvier  delivered  into  Agassiz's  hands  the 
drawings  and  notes,  filling  a  large  portfolio,  brought 
from  the  study  by  his  faithful  assistant  Laurillard.  It 
filled  Agassiz  with  greater  joy  than  he  had  ever  felt  before 
or  than  he  ever  felt  again,  as  he  said  many  years  after. 
Certainly  such  an  acknowledgment  from  the  greatest 
naturalist  then  living  was  a  most  gratifying  and  unex- 
pected reward  for  all  Agassiz's  studies  and  efforts.  It 
was  most  encouraging  and  auspicious  for  his  future. 
All  that  Agassiz  had  expected,  and  even  this  was  with 
grave  doubts,  was  that,  perhaps,  Cuvier  ntight  be  in- 
duced to  allow  him  to  assist  in  finishing  the  work  with 


40  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  in. 

him,  just  as  he  had  lately  allowed  Valenciennes  to 
help  him  to  finish  his  "  Histoire  naturelle  des  Poissons 
vivants."  Of  course  the  gift  of  Cuvier  was  highly 
appreciated  by  his  parents  on  the  shore  of  the  Lake  of 
Neuchatel.  It  was  most  gratifying  for  them  to  see 
their  dear  Louis  so  well  treated.  But,  alas  !  just  at  this 
time  the  small  sum  of  money  he  had  brought  with  him 
began  to  run  very  low ;  and  there  was  no  immediate 
prospect  of  replenishing  his  purse  unless  he  accepted 
an  offer  from  J.  Daudebard  de  Ferussac  to  take  the 
editorship  of  the  zoological  part  of  his  "  Bulletin  des 
annonces  et  des  nouvelles  scientifiques,"  which  would 
yield  an  additional  thousand  francs  a  year,  but  would 
require  two  or  three  hours'  work  daily. 

One  of  his  first  acquaintances  at  Paris  was  Alexander 
von  Humboldt,  then  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude  among 
the  numerous  great  French  savants.  If  Cuvier' s  wel- 
come was  somewhat  reserved  and  marked  by  formal 
politeness,  lacking  cordiality,  Humboldt's  reception 
took  a  form  of  indulgence  and  kindness  which  warmed 
Agassiz's  heart.  From  their  first  meeting  at  the  apart- 
ments of  Humboldt,  in  his  working  room  in  the  rue  de 
la  Harpe  in  the  Latin  Quarter,  a  mutual  attraction  was 
felt ;  and  the  terrible  Humboldt,  the  fear  of  all  savants 
and  of  all  the  great  salons  of  Paris,  took  a  fancy  to  the 
young  Swiss  naturalist.  He  took  him  to  breakfast  at 
his  usual  cafe-restaurant,  the  celebrated  Cafe  Procop, 
rue  de  l'Ancienne  Comedie,  near  by  ;  and  there,  as  was 
his  custom,  hardly  taking  time  to  eat,  he  talked  inces- 
santly of  his  experience  among  the  electric  fishes  in 
Venezuela.     Agassiz,   who   was    all    attention,    did    not 


1831-32.]  HE  CHARMED  HUMBOLDT.  41 

interrupt  him  once, — certainly  a  great  mark  of  admira- 
tion on  the  part  of  Agassiz,  who  was  himself  a  great 
talker,  —  and  after  three  hours  together,  they  separated 
at  the  door  of  the  Mazarine  Library,  charmed  with 
each  other. 

To  have  pleased  a  man  so  sarcastic  as  Humboldt 
was  not  a  small  triumph.  He  was  conquered  by  the 
juvenile  enthusiasm,  the  extraordinary  optimism,  of 
Agassiz.  As  one  of  the  friends  of  Agassiz  says,  "  Lui 
(de  Humboldt)  qui  etait  si  mordant  de  nature  n'est 
qu'affectueux  et  plein  de  sollicitude  en  ecrivant  ou  en 
causant  avec  son  jeune  ami." 

In  some  way  Humboldt  learned  through  the  pub- 
lisher, Cotta  of  Stuttgart,  the  straitened  circumstances 
under  which  Agassiz  was  labouring,  and  therefore 
simply  enclosed  in  a  letter  a  "  billet  de  la  Banque  de 
France  "  for  one  thousand  francs,  begging  him  to 
accept  it.  Agassiz,  in  his  letter  of  thanks,  dated  the 
27th  of  March,  1832,  calls  Humboldt  his  "  benefactor 
and  friend,"  and  confesses  that  his  kind  and  helpful 
hand  has  unexpectedly  rescued  him  from  a  distressing 
position,  and  that  now  he  is  again  in  hope  of  devoting 
his  whole  powers  to  science.  Humboldt  was  then  min- 
ister plenipotentiary  of  Prussia  to  the  court  of  the 
Tuileries ;  and  his  timely  help  won  for  him  an  admira- 
tion which  ended  only  with  the  last  day  of  Agassiz's 
life.  As  Agassiz  himself  says,  "  I  was  pleased  to  re- 
main a  debtor  of  Humboldt,  for  I  have  never  returned 
the  sum  he  bestowed  at  such  an  opportune  moment." 

Agassiz-like,  as  soon  as  he  was  recovered  from  his 
despondency  in  regard  to  money,  his  buoyant  spirit  led 


42  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  in. 

him  at  once  on  a  journey  to  the  seashore  of  Normandy 
in  company  with  Alexander  Braun,  who  had  joined  him 
in  Paris  six  weeks  after  his  arrival,  and  Dinkel.  They 
walked  all  the  way  from  Havre  to  Dieppe,  enjoying 
to  the  full  the  spectacle,  so  new  to  them,  of  living 
sea-animals,  bringing  back  from  that  too  short  visit 
many  new  ideas,  cheered  and  stimulated  by  "  the 
great  phenomena  presented  by  the  ocean  in  its  vast 
expanse." 

A  few  weeks  after  his  return  from  Normandy,  Agassiz 
sustained  a  great  loss,  —  a  loss  which  affected  the  rest 
of  his  life,  —  in  the  death  of  his  master,  George  Cuvier. 
Since  Carnival  and  during  the  whole  spring  cholera  had 
been  raging  fearfully  in  Paris,  greatly  increasing  the 
death  rate  ;  some  quarters,  however,  like  the  Jardin  des 
Plantes,  had  been  almost  free  from  the  terrible  scourge, 
but  there  it  at  last  made  its  appearance,  and  one  of  its 
most  illustrious  victims  was  Cuvier.  Sunday,  the  6th 
of  May,  1832,  Agassiz,  as  was  his  custom,  worked  all 
the  day  until  dinner  time  at  five  o'clock  in  Cuvier's 
study.  During  a  conversation,  Cuvier,  seeing  how 
intense  Agassiz's  application  to  work  was,  said  to  him  : 
"  Soyez  prudent,  et  rappelez  vous  que  trop  de  travail 
tue."  On  the  next  day  Baron  Cuvier,  who,  in  183 1, 
had  been  created  by  King  Louis  Philippe  a  peer  of 
France,  when  about  to  ascend  the  tribune  in  the  Cham- 
ber of  Peers,  at  the  Palace  of  the  Luxembourg,  to  deliver 
an  address,  suffered  paralysis.  He  was  carried  home, 
and  rallied,  but  died  on  Sunday,  May  13,  1832,  the  imme- 
diate cause  of  his  death  being  an  attack  of  cholera. 

The    unexpected  and  somewhat  premature  death  of 


1831-32.]  HEATH   OF  CUVIER.  43 

Cuvier  at  the  age  of  sixty-three  —  for  his  life  might 
have  extended  ten  and  perhaps  fifteen  years  longer  — 
had  a  very  serious  effect,  which  cannot  be  overesti- 
mated, on  the  future  of  Agassiz.  Cuvier  was  the  only 
man  who  exerted  a  scientific  and  personal  influence 
over  Agassiz;  from  him,  and  him  alone,  Agassiz  would 
accept  advice,  and  be  guided  in  his  work.  He  recog- 
nized in  him  his  master,  and  the  young  charmer  of 
Switzerland  found  in  him  another  more  powerful 
than  himself,  and  especially  more  practical  in  his  life 
and  work.  At  first  the  formal  politeness  of  Cuvier 
chilled  him,  and  he  says,  "  I  would  gladly  go  away 
were  I  not  held  fast  by  the  wealth  of  material  of  which 
I  can  avail  myself  for  instruction."  But  this  first  im- 
pression soon  passed  away,  and  an  unbounded  admira- 
tion replaced  it. 

Some  details  are  necessary  to  understand  the  course 
taken  by  Agassiz,  and  the  singular  resolve  to  leave 
Paris,  at  that  time  the  Mecca  of  all  naturalists  and 
savants,  to  settle  as  a  professor,  with  a  very  small 
salary,  in  a  small  town  of  less  than  six  thousand 
inhabitants,  in  a  hybrid  country,  half  Swiss,  half 
Prussian,  lost  in  Central  Europe. 

Cuvier,  son  of  an  officer  of  a  Swiss  regiment,  in  the 
French  service,  and  nephew  of  a  Protestant  clergyman 
of  talent,  was  called  to  Paris,  after  the  revolution  of 
the  9th  Thermidor,  by  young  Geoffroy,  —  celebrated 
since  as  Etienne  Geoffroy  Saint-Hilaire,  —  and  attached 
to  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  as  substitute  for  the  professor 
of  comparative  anatomy.  The  reading  of  some  manu- 
script  papers  on  natural  history,  sent   by  Cuvier,   had 


44  LOUIS  AGASSTZ.  [chap.  hi. 

excited  in  the  enthusiastic  mind  of  Geoffroy  such  an 
admiration  that  he  wrote  him,  then  in  Normandy, 
acting  as  tutor  in  a  nobleman's  family,  "  Come  and 
play  among  us  the  part  of  Linnaeus  —  of  another 
legislator  and  ruler  of  natural  history."  This  was  at 
the  beginning  of  1795.  Cuvier  soon  rose  to  the  front 
rank,  and  even  to  so  high  a  position  that,  after  18 17,  the 
year  of  the  appearance  of  his  "  Regne  animal,"  he  was 
recognized  by  all  European  naturalists  as  unquestion- 
ably the  leader.  From  that  moment  Cuvier  developed 
a  love  of  power  and  a  tyrannical  spirit  which  surprised 
and  grieved  some  of  his  best  friends.  He  became 
overbearing  and  impatient  of  any  opposition  to  such 
a  degree  that  in  1830,  during  the  celebrated  discussion 
before  the  French  Academy  of  Science,  occasioned  by 
the  publication  of  the  "  Principes  de  philosophie  zoolo- 
gique,"  in  May,  1830,  a  rupture  occurred  with  his  life- 
long friend  Geoffroy  Saint-Hilaire.  Cuvier  and  Geoffroy 
became  irreconcilable  antagonists,  but  remained  person- 
ally friendly,  though  the  intimacy  which  had  existed 
between  them  during  more  than  thirty  years  ceased,  as 
much  through  the  fault  of  Geoffroy  as  of  Cuvier.  In 
the  discussion  Geoffroy  was  very  overbearing,  and 
assumed  a  role  which  extremely  irritated  Cuvier.  It 
is  generally  admitted  now  that  Cuvier  went  too  far, 
although  he  refuted,  with  a  surprising  number  of  facts, 
the  arguments  presented  by  Geoffroy  on  the  six  great 
problems:  (1)  The  pre-existence  in  natural  history 
of  the  genus;  (2)  the  unity  of  organic  composition; 
(3)  the  value  of  classification;  (4)  the  fixity  of  species; 
(5)  the  final  cause;  and  (6)  the  succession  of  organic 


i83i-32-]     ETIENNE  GEOFFROY  SAINT-HILAIRE.        45 

life  on  earth.  Thanks  to  his  genius  and  his  unrivalled 
talent  of  exposition,  Cuvier  won  before  the  Academy ; 
but  it  was  plain  that  the  general  public  was  against 
him  and  in  favour  of  Geoffroy.  During  the  last  two 
years  of  Cuvier's  life  the  discussion  was  continued,  not 
before  the  Academy,  but  in  public  lectures  at  the  Col- 
lege de  France.  Cuvier,  with  renewed  vigour,  assailed 
the  unity  of  organic  composition  and  any  general  con- 
ception in  natural  history.  As  Isidore  Geoffroy  says  : 
"  Disciple,  Cuvier  ne  pouvait  l'etre  de  personne,  et  par 
les  tendances  propres  de  son  esprit,  moins  de  Geoffroy 
Saint-Hilaire  que  de  tout  autre ;  il  devint  done  adver- 
saire."  We  may  say,  to  the  credit  of  Geoffroy,  that  his 
admiration  of  Cuvier  was  not  diminished,  and  at  his 
tomb,  with  great  emotion,  and  in  words  of  sincerity 
which  had  their  source  in  his  heart,  he  proclaimed 
him  "  le  Maitre  a  tous  !  " 

Agassiz  felt  strongly  the  influence  of  Cuvier ;  he  had 
repeated  occasion  to  see  and  compare  Cuvier  and 
Geoffroy,  and  the  superiority  of  Cuvier  was  so  unde- 
niable, that  many  years  afterward,  when  the  question  of 
fixity  of  species,  descent,  and  succession  of  forms  again 
arose  with  Darwin's  "  Origin  of  Species,"  he  did  not 
hesitate  for  one  moment  to  oppose  a  doctrine  so  full  of 
hypothesis  and  so  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  his 
master:  "  le  Maitre  a  tous!"  Agassiz  had  promptly 
received  the  good  will  and  protection  of  Cuvier,  and  it 
is  most  probable  that,  if  Cuvier's  life  had  been  spared,  he 
would  have  obtained,  through  his  influence,  a  professor- 
ship or  some  place  in  Paris.  For  Agassiz  was  determined 
not  to  be  a  country  physician,  but  to  support  himself 


46  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  hi. 

as  a  naturalist.  It  is  always  very  difficult  in  Paris  to  get 
a  scientific  position,  on  account  of  the  great  number 
of  aspirants  always  waiting  for  a  favouring  opportunity. 
After  a  few  months,  Agassiz  soon  realized  his  superi- 
ority over  all  the  young  and  even  old  naturalists,  and 
acknowledged  only  one  master,  —  George  Cuvier  !  For 
Agassiz  was  not  naturally  self-distrustful ;  he  knew  his 
worth,  and  it  was  rather  humiliating  to  him  to  be  placed 
beneath  certain  savants  whose  merits  and  capaci- 
ties were  far  below  his.  He  had  to  reckon  with  those 
who  held  what  is  called  in  Paris  "  positions  acquises," 
that  is  to  say,  with  savants  who  had  been  gradually 
promoted  from  very  modest  places  to  higher  positions. 
Cuvier's  death  left  vacant  a  large  number  of  places, 
and  a  regular  scramble  to  occupy  all  the  positions  he 
had  held  began  in  earnest  as  soon  as  he  was  buried. 
Not  being  a  Frenchman  by  birth,  Agassiz  was  at  a 
disadvantage;  although  an  Englishman,  Henri  Milne- 
Edwards  had  the  good  fortune  to  push  himself  forward, 
and  finally  succeeded  Cuvier.  But  Edwards,  who  was 
older  than  Agassiz  by  several  years,  had  been  educated 
in  Paris,'  and  knew  how  to  make  use  of  influence.  He 
made  loud  claims  to  being  a  Frenchman  born,  because 
he  was  accidentally  born  in  Bruges  in  Belgium  during 
the  occupation  of  that  country  by  the  armies  of  the 
French  Republic.  Another  competitor  was  Valen- 
ciennes, also  older  than  Agassiz,  and  an  assistant  of 
Cuvier,  who  had  begun  with  Cuvier  the  publication  of 
the  "Histoire  naturelle  des  Poissons  vivants."  To  be 
sure,  the  publisher  of  the  work  proposed  to  Agassiz 
to  join  Valenciennes  as  a  collaborator;  but  Humboldt, 


1831-32.]    APPOINTED  PROFESSOR  AT  NEUCHATEE   47 

who  had  always  taken  a  strong  interest  in  Valenciennes' 
welfare,  rather  discouraged  the  association,  knowing 
well  that  Agassiz  would  soon  extinguish  all  Valen- 
ciennes' future  prospects.  Humboldt  exerted  a  strong 
influence  over  Agassiz.  As  minister  of  Prussia  in 
France,  he  cunningly  worked  to  detach  Agassiz  from 
Paris,  increasing  rather  than  diminishing  the  obstacles 
and  difficulties  Agassiz  found  there,  acting  in  accord  with 
the  Prussian  governor  at  Neuchatel,  and  M.  Louis  de 
Coulon,  a  rich  and  most  benevolent  Neuchatelois,  who 
wished  in  some  way  to  attach  Agassiz  to  the  Lyceum 
of  Neuchatel.  After  the  death  of  Cuvier,  Agassiz, 
with  his  independent  character,  was  discouraged  and 
distressed  by  the  constant  intrigues  going  on  under  his 
eyes  in  restless  Paris.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  still 
mindful  of  his  happy  days  in  Germany,  and  desired  to 
return  there  as  a  professor  in  some  German  university. 

Humboldt,  little  by  little,  persuaded  Agassiz  to  accept 
a  very  modest — altogether  too  modest  —  position  as  pro- 
fessor at  the  Lyceum  of  Neuchatel  as  a  stepping-stone 
and  a  preliminary  position  to  a  professorship  at  Berlin 
or  some  other  German  university.  Agassiz  hesitated, 
for  he  knew  very  well  that  Neuchatel  was  too  small  a 
place,  and  devoid  of  all  resources  in  natural  history  ; 
and  his  thought  was  at  first  to  settle  at  Lausanne,  or 
preferably  at  Geneva,  then  already  a  great  scientific 
centre.  But  Humboldt  and  Coulon  united  their  efforts, 
and  at  last  secured  the  acceptance  of  Agassiz,  who,  in 
September,  1832,  left  Paris,  to  the  great  joy  of  all  the 
young  French  naturalists  of  the  capital  ;  for  he  was  a 
formidable  rival  taken  out  of  the  way. 


48  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  hi. 

Agassiz  always  disliked  intrigue ;  he  was  frank  and 
very  earnest,  and,  although  inclined  to  authority  and 
adverse  to  divided  powrer,  he  was  too  little  French,  or 
more  correctly  too  little  Parisian,  in  character,  to  like 
living  in  a  society  in  which  intrigue  was  as  necessary  as 
scientific  knowledge  to  success.  He  had  too  high  an 
opinion  of  science  to  make  compromises  and  con- 
stantly bargain  for  position,  influence,  and  honour. 

With  the  death  of  Cuvier  vanished  all  his  hopes  of  a 
great  journey  beyond  Europe,  —  a  desire  which  had  pur- 
sued him  ever  since  he  began  the  study  of  natural  his- 
tory at  Zurich  with  Schink.  What  he  heard  in  Paris 
of  the  great  success  of  Victor  Jacquemont  in  India,  and 
of  Alcide  d'Orbigny  in  South  America,  had  increased 
tenfold  his  wish  to  be  a  travelling  naturalist,  and  the 
long  account  given  to  him  by  Humboldt  of  the  equinoc- 
tial regions  of  the  New  World  increased,  if  possible,  his 
cherished  determination  to  make  an  exploring  journey. 
Cuvier  had  told  him  that  after  the  return  of  Jacquemont 
and  d'Orbigny,  then  daily  expected,  the  annual  appro- 
priation at  the  disposal  of  the  Museum  would  be  in  part 
free,  and  might  be  bestowed  on  him.  His  dreams  of 
seeing  the  great  Amazon  River  were  revived,  but  were 
not  destined  to  be  realized  till  more  than  thirty  years 
afterward,  under  other  auspices,  and  under  much  more 
fortunate  conditions. 

If  Agassiz  had  been  able  to  make  a  great  exploration 
into  the  interior  of  a  continent,  or  around  the  world, 
when  he  was  between  twenty-five  and  thirty-five  years 
of  age,  what  a  harvest  of  facts  he  would  have  brought 
back  with  him !     It  is  much  to  be  regretted,  both  for 


1831-32.]  NO   GREAT  EXPLORATION.  49 

himself    and  for  the  progress  of    natural   history,  that 
he  did  not  enjoy  that  privilege. 

It  is  useless  to  express  regret  as  we  see  him  burying 
himself  in  such  a  remote  place ;  for  wherever  Agas- 
siz  went  he  carried  with  him  the  torch  of  science,  and 
obliged  all  the  scientific  world  to  look  at  him  and  give 
close  attention  to  what  he  said  and  did. 


E 


CHAPTER   IV. 

1832-1835. 

Agassiz's  First  Establishment  at  NeuchAtel — Foundation  of  the 
"Societe  des  Sciences  Naturelles,"  on  the  6th  of  December, 
1832  —  An  Offer  of  a  Chair  at  the  University  of  Heidelberg 
declined  —  Letter  of  Humboldt  —  Engagement  of  Alexander 
Braun  with  Miss  Cecile  Guyot  and  that  of  Karl  Schimper 
with  Miss  Emmy  Braun  broken  off  —  Marriage  of  Agassiz 
with  Miss  Cecile  Braun  —  Publication  of  the  First  Part  of 
the  "Fossil  Fishes" — First  Visit  to  England  in  1834 — "Mon- 
ographie  des  Echinodermes  "  —  Des  Moulins's  Work  on  the 
Same  Subject — Criticisms  of  Humboldt  and  Von  Buch — Second 
Visit  to  England  in  1835  —  Birth  of  a  Son — Four  Letters  to 

PlCTET   AND   NlCOLET. 

In  November,  1832,  Agassiz  was  established  at  Neu- 
chatel  as  professor  of  natural  history  in  a  small  college, 
at  a  salary  of  eighty  louis  (about  $400),  and  with  an 
appointment  of  only  three  years'  duration.  What 
tempted  him  greatly  was  the  opportunity  to  live  in 
Switzerland,  near  his  family,  complete  independence 
in  regard  to  his  teaching,  and  a  belief  that,  notwith- 
standing the  small  salary,  the  expenses  of  living  were 
so  much  less  than  in  large  cities  like  Paris  or  Munich, 
that  $400,  or  2000  francs,  would  "  keep  him  above  actual 
embarrassment."  Independence  he  got;  and  indepen- 
dence was  a  strong  trait  in  his  character,  and  one  which 
explains  several  of  his  otherwise  rather  peculiar  deci- 

5° 


1832-35-]      ESTABLISHMENT  AT  NEUCHATEL.  51 

sions  at  different  periods  of  his  life.  But  insufficiency 
of  means,  resulting  from  his  want  of  business  capacity, 
assailed  him  from  the  first  moment  of  his  arrival  in 
Neuchatel.  As  to  its  being  a  stepping-stone  to  a  posi- 
tion at  Berlin,  that  expectation  was  never  realized ;  all 
prospects  in  that  direction  having  been  entirely  barred, 
as  we  shall  see,  by  the  part  he  took  in  the  glacial  ques- 
tion five  years  later. 

A  college  in  a  small  town  of  five  or  six  thousand 
inhabitants,  like  Neuchatel  in  1832,  and  after  the 
political  and  very  grave  disturbances  which  occurred 
there  in  183 1,  as  a  consequence  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion of  July,  1830,  was,  of  necessity,  a  very  limited 
institution.  The  number  of  pupils,  all  told,  was 
below  one  hundred ;  and  there  were  absolutely  no  ma- 
terials for  study,  no  collections,  not  even  a  room  to  be 
used  for  the  new  class.  Agassiz  was  obliged  to  deliver 
his  lectures  at  the  City  Hall,  in  the  room  of  the  tribunal 
of  the  justice  of  the  peace.  With  his  impetuous  and 
optimistic  spirit  and  his  impulsive  nature,  he  went  to 
work,  and,  without  losing  a  minute,  he  undertook  to 
form  a  centre  of  scientific  culture  with  the  rather  scanty 
and  rough  material  at  his  disposal.  With  the  help  of 
the  two  Louis  de  Coulons,  father  and  son,  —  two  of  the 
most  devoted,  and,  at  the  same  time,  most  modest  nat- 
uralists, —  Agassiz  arranged  a  provisional  museum  in 
the  Orphans'  Home,  bringing  there  the  already  numer- 
ous specimens  of  natural  history  collected  by  himself  in 
Germany,  Switzerland,  and  France. 

Less  than  a  month  after  his  arrival  and  the  deliv- 
ery   of    his    inaugural    lecture,    "  Upon    the    Relations 


52  LOUIS  AGASSI Z.  [chap.  iv. 

between  the  Different  Branches  of  Natural  History," 
which  was  given  on  Nov.  12,  before  all  the  edu- 
cated and  intelligent  men  Neuchatel  could  assemble, 
his  father  included,  —  on  the  6th  of  December,  1832, 
he  founded  the  "  Societe  des  Sciences  Naturelles 
de  Neuchatel,"  in  the  parlour  of  M.  Louis  de  Cou- 
lon,  Sr.,  who  was  elected  president,  while  Agassiz 
was  made  secretary.  During  the  first  six  years  of 
its  existence  the  society  met  at  M.  de  Coulon's 
private  house.  It  was  rather  more  a  scientific  club 
than  a  true  society,  meeting  twice  a  month  from  No- 
vember until  May,  and  monthly  only  during  the  rest 
of  the  year.  The  annual  subscription  was  moderately 
placed  at  three  francs  (sixty  cents).  Only  six  persons 
founded  the  society, — Agassiz,  Auguste  de  Montmol- 
lin,  the  geologist,  Louis  de  Coulon,  Jr.,  and  three  others. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  three  years  of  its  existence, 
the  number  of  fellows  was  only  twenty-five,  and  not 
more  than  six  or  eight  members  were  often  present  at 
the  meetings.  Agassiz  was  the  leading  spirit ;  and  he 
wrote  the  proceedings  of  the  sections  of  natural  history 
and  medical  science  for  the  years  1833,  1834,  1835, 
and  1836.  His  first  contribution  was  a  "  General  Re- 
port on  the  Progress  of  Natural  History  during  the 
Last  Few  Years,"  in  which  he  paid  a  tribute  of  admi- 
ration  to  George  Cuvier,  and  at  the  same  time  lamented 
the  recent  death  of  "Ce  heros  de  la  science";  and 
declared  that  the  only  way  to  success  is  by  "  the  con- 
scientious observation  of  nature." 

Not  satisfied  with  delivering  a  course  to  his  class  at 
the  college,  he  gathered  round  him  a  select  and  limited 


1832-35-]       PROFESSORSHIP  AT  HEIDELBERG.  53 

audience  of  persons  desirous  to  hear  him  on  zoology, 
botany,  and  the  philosophy  of  nature.  And  when 
the  weather  permitted,  he  used  to  take  all  his  pupils, 
young  and  old,  on  excursions  into  the  field ;  visiting, 
among  other  places,  the  celebrated  quarries  of  the 
Neocomian  at  Hauterive,  the  summit  of  the  Chaumont 
Mountain,  and  the  shores  of  the  lake.  It  was  a  spec- 
tacle worth  seeing.  One  of  those  who  enjoyed  these 
excursions  said  to  me  :  "  Agassiz  was  at  his  best,  pass- 
ing from  a  plant  to  a  fossil ;  from  physical  geography  to 
a  fish,  a  snail,  a  bird,  an  insect,  anything  that  came  in 
his  way  ;  always  ready  to  discourse  for  hours,  and,  as 
usual,  full  of  all  sorts  of  new  schemes.  Time  passed 
only  too  quickly  in  his  company." 

Everything  then  seemed  to  smile  on  him ;  it  was  a 
sort  of  triumphal  entry  into  life.  A  few  days  after  his 
installation  at  Neuchatel,  he  received,  on  the  4th  of 
December,  1832,  a  proposal  to  present  himself,  if  he 
wished,  in  place  of  Professor  Leuckart,  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Heidelberg,  which  he  declined  to  do.  He  con- 
sulted Humboldt  about  the  call  from  Heidelberg,  in  a 
letter  published  by  Mrs.  Agassiz,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  213-217; 
but  as  Mrs.  Agassiz  was  unable  to  give  Humboldt's 
answer,  I  will  give  it  in  full  in  French,  translated  from 
the  German  by  Agassiz  himself  for  his  uncle  Mayor. 

Berlin,  29  decembre,  1832. 

Lettre  d'Alexandre  de  Humboldt  a  Louis  Agassiz, — 

Je  n'ai  point  d'expression,  mon  cher  Agassiz,  pour  vous  t<5moigner 
quel  grand  plaisir  me  procure  chaque  ligne  que  je  recois  de  vous. 
ainsi  que  les  marques  d'amitie'  que  vous  me  donnez.  Je  ne  puis 
excuser  le  retard  que  j"ai  mis  a  repondre  a  votre  derniere  lettre  que 


54  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  iv. 

par  mon  bras  manchot  et  la  vie  penible  que  je  mene  entre  Berlin 
et  Potsdam,  ou  je  vais  retourner  dans  un  instant  et  passer  quelque 
jours  avec  le  roi.  Vous  nVaimez  assez  pour  ne  pas  vous  en  facher. 
Ceci  n'est  pas  non  plus  une  lettre,  mais  seulement  une  marque  de 
ma  gratitude  et  mon  opinion  sur  la  proposition  si  honorable  qui 
vous  est  faite  d1une  chaire  de  professeur  a  Heidelberg.  Je  reconnais, 
mon  cher  ami,  le  grand  sacrifice  que  vous  ferez  en  refusant,  mais 
sans  pouvoir  de  loin  apprecier  votre  position  a  Neuchatel,  et  surtout 
ce  qu'elle  peut  avoir  de  fixe,  je  penche  cependant  pour  vous  engager 
a.  y  rester.  Ce  pays  est  en  quelque  sorte  votre  patrie ;  on  vous  a 
recu  la,  a  ce  qu'il  me  parait  avec  beaucoup  d'empressement.  II  est 
vrai  que  par  ce  choix,  vous  perdez  sensiblement  en  argent,  mais  a 
Neuchatel  vous  avez  plus  de  temps  a.  vous,  et  vous  vivez  dans  une 
ville  riche,  ou  certainment,  en  consideration  du  sacrifice  que  vous 
faites,  on  aidera  peut-etre  plus  qu'ailleurs,  soit  par  reconnoissance, 
soit  par  un  sentiment  d'honneur  ou  meme  de  vanite  de  vous  pos- 
seder  (le  patriotisme  prend  toutes  ces  tonrnures)  dans  la  publication 
de  vos  deux  grands  ouvrages  qui  doivent  etre  le  but  essentiel  de 
votre  vie.  Un  homme  de  votre  talent  et  de  votre  savoir,  lorsqu'il 
aura  publie  ces  deux  ouvrages,  sera  place  si  haut  que  de  telles  offres 
par  des  universites  allemandes  ne  sauraient  manquer  d'etre  renou- 
velees.  II  est  vrai  que  je  prefererais  Heidelberg  a  toute  autre,  meme 
a  Berlin,  ou  maintenant  Tetude  des  sciences  naturelles  est  assez  ne- 
gligee. Cependant  je  desirerais  qiril  fut  bien  connu  par  les  feuilles 
publiques  que  vous  avez  eu  cet  appel  et  que  (sans  menacer  indeli- 
catement)  vous  missiez  a.  profit  votre  refus  pour  fixer  votre  position 
a  Neuchatel,  pour  accele'rer  l'achat  de  votre  collection  et  pour  obtenir 
la  promesse  de  quelques  souscriptions  considerables  pour  vos  ou- 
vrages. Je  ferai  tout  ce  qui  dependra  de  moi  aupres  de  M.  Ancillon 
et  suis  bien  certain  de  ne  rencontrer  ici  aucun  obstacle,  mais  je 
crains  qu'a  Neuchatel  meme  on  ne  soit  un  peu  intimide  par  une 
depense  de  600  louis,  au  moins  a.  present.  En  Allemagne,  il  est 
maintenant  tres  difficile  d'obtenir  quelques  cents  louis  d'un  gouverne- 
ment  pour  quoique  ce  soit.  On  pretexte  toujours  les  probability's 
d\ine  guerre,  a  laquelle  du  reste  personne  ne  croit.  L'essentiel 
maintenant  me  parait  (et  je  vois  avec  plaisir  que  vous  y  visez  con- 


1832-35-]  LETTER   OF  HUMBOLDT.  55 

stamment)  que  vous  fassiez  voir  au  monde,  meme  avec  des  figures 
moins  soignees,  ce  que  vous  avez  si  admirablement  bien  examine,  et 
si  vous  ne  pouvez  pas  publier  en  meme  temps  ces  deux  ouvrages, 
donnez  la  preference  aux  fossiles.  Vous  le  pouvez  d'autant  mieux 
que  vous  avez  si  heureusement  decouvert  les  rapports  qui  existent 
entre  votre  classification  des  poissons  et  la  succession  des  forma- 
tions geologiques.  Je  suis  bien  impatient  de  la  connaitre  dans  tous 
ses  details.  Ne  negligez  pas  de  consulter  sur  les  fossiles  en  ge- 
neral la  traduction  du  manuscrit  de  de  la  Beche  par  Dechen  ;  c'est 
lui  qui,  a.  mon  avis,  rend  le  mieux  compte  de  Tetat  actuel  de  la 
geologic     C'est  aussi  Topinion  de  de  Buch. 

Si  vous  ne  pouvez  pas  commencer  promptement  la  publication 
de  votre  ouvrage,  il  faudrait  necessairement  pour  ne  pas  etre  vole, 
publier  de  suite  sous  vos  yeux  un  memoire  en  franc, ais  dans  lequel 
vous  rendriez  compte  de  vos  idees  generales  sur  la  classification  des 
poissons,  leur  distribution  geographique  et  geologique,  etc.  Afin 
que  votre  ouvrage  produise  tout  Tefifet  qu'il  doit  faire,  restreignez 
vous  aux  poissons  et  ne  donnez  que  quelques  indications  generales 
sur  les  autres  organismes. 

Je  vous  embrasse  tendrement,  mon  cher  Agassiz ;  assurez  votre 

bonne  mere  de  toute  mon  estime. 

Votre  A.  Humboldt. 

This  letter  is,  perhaps,  the  most  important  and  affec- 
tionate one  from  Humboldt  to  his  young  friend  Agassiz. 

Thanks  to  Humboldt's  personal  application  to  the 
Prussian  government,  and  the  initiative  subscriptions 
taken  by  Louis  de  Coulon  at  Neuchatel,  a  sufficient 
sum  of  money  was  obtained  to  purchase,  for  the  newly 
created  Museum  of  Neuchatel,  the  collections  of  Agassiz. 
He  received  the  round  sum  of  600  louis,  or  almost 
$3000. 

With  his  optimism,  always  ready  to  go  beyond  all 
reasonable  bounds,  he  thought  that  in  coming  to  Neu- 
chatel he   had   made   his  fortune;    and  his  first  desire 


56  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  iv. 

was  to  get  married.  As  is  often  the  case  with  stu- 
dents, the  trio,  Agassiz,  Braun,  and  Schimper,  had 
promptly  fallen  in  love.  They  were  surrounded  by  too 
many  young  sisters  and  friends'  sisters  not  to  succumb. 
Agassiz's  choice  was  Cecile  Braun  ;  Schimper  became 
engaged  to  her  older  sister  Emmy,  and  Braun  himself 
was  soon  enamoured  of  a  sister  of  Arnold  Guyot,  also 
called  Cecile.  As  shown  by  the  result,  it  would  seem 
that  it  would  have  been  well  if  the  three  engagements 
had  been  broken  off.  Alexander  Braun,  the  most  rea- 
sonable and  practical  of  the  three,  had  the  good  sense 
not  to  go  too  far.  His  regard  for  Cecile  Guyot  of  Hau- 
terive,  near  Neuchatel,  soon  took  the  form  of  friend- 
ship. No  public  engagement  was  announced,  prudence 
on  both  sides  keeping  the  matter  rather  quiet,  until,  by 
common  consent,  Mademoiselle  Cecile  Guyot,  instead 
of  a  "  manage  d'inclination,"  considered  by  her  very 
practical  family  as  a  great  "  imprudence,"  agreed  to  a 
"  manage  de  convenance  '  at  Neuchatel,  —  a  "parti 
fort  avantageux,"  according  to  Arnold  Guyot, —  and, 
instead  of  becoming  Madame  Braun,  was  contented  to 
call  her  old  sweetheart  "son  bon  frere  Alex."  * 

Although  Alexander  Braun  was  a  great  admirer  of 
the  botanical  genius  of  Karl  Schimper,  he  soon  saw  the 
weak  point  of  his  character.  After  waiting  several 
years  from  the  time  of  the  engagement  in  1832,  Miss 
Emmy  Braun  realized  too  well  the  unfitness  of  Schimper, 
and,  with  the  help  of  her  brother,  broke  the  engage- 

1  See  "Alexander  Braun's  Leben,"  by  Mrs.  C.  Mettenius,  where  are 
many  details  of  the  whole  affair,  even  including  letters  of  Braun  to  Cecile 
Guyot. 


1832-35]  FIRST  MARRIAGE.  57 

ment  in  1840.  Miss  Emmy  Braun  was  born  in  January, 
1807,  and  was  as  gifted  as  her  younger  sister  Cecile, 
being  an  excellent  musician.  In  the  spring  of  1841 
she  married  Mr.  Eichhorn,  Hofmuziker  at  Carlsruhe. 
All  four  of  the  Braun  children  were  talented. 

As  for  the  engagement  of  Agassiz  and  Miss  Cecile 
Braun,  although  Alexander  and  his  mother  were  not 
very  enthusiastic  in  regard  to  it,  —  for  both  saw  how 
fully  Louis  was  engrossed  in  his  studies  and  in  himself, 
and  realized  his  tendency  to  fly  from  one  subject  to 
another,  and  his  want  of  steadiness  and  of  business 
capacity,  —  nevertheless  during  the  vacation  of  1833, 
it  became  "  un  fait  accompli  "  ;  and  in  October  Agassiz 
brought  his  wife  home  to  Neuchatel,  to  a  small  apart- 
ment "  au  faubourg  du  Lac,"  No.  21. 

Mrs.  Cecile  Agassiz,  born  at  Carlsruhe  the  29th  of 
July,  1809,  was  a  lady  with  regular  and  fine  features, 
slender,  and  of  very  dark  complexion,  so  much  so  that 
she  looked  more  like  an  Italian  or  Spaniard  than  a 
German.  She  possessed  rare  artistic  talents,  being  a 
pupil  of  an  artist  of  some  repute,  Marie  Ellenrieder  of 
the  Nazarean  school,  after  the  style  of  Fra  Angelico. 
Before  her  marriage  she  made  many  aquarelles  of  fossil 
and  fresh-water  fishes  for  her  "  fiance,"  remarkably 
exact  and  well  executed,  which  rivalled  those  made  by 
the  painter  Dinkel.  She  also  painted  specimens  of 
plants  for  her  brother  Alexander.  Besides  this,  she 
was  well  acquainted  with  German  literature,  and  was 
generally  an  accomplished  young  lady.  She  was  a 
great  favourite  in  her  family,  and  was  widely  acquainted 
in   Carlsruhe.     She  was   greatly  disappointed   in    Neu- 


58  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  iv. 

chatel ;  everything  was  so  different  from  her  delightful 
home  at  Carlsruhe.  She  did  not  speak  French  fluently, 
and  possessing  to  a  high  degree  the  German  placidity 
which  borders  on  complete  indifference,  she  was  not 
well  impressed  by  what  she  saw,  and  from  the  first 
disliked  all  Agassiz's  friends  and  acquaintances.  Ac- 
customed to  the  beautiful  green  fields  and  forests  of 
the  vicinity  of  Carlsruhe,  she  found  herself  enclosed 
by  dusty  or  muddy  roads,  by  high  vineyard  walls,  and 
the  rather  inhospitable  aspect  of  the  houses  :  all  this, 
with  the  reserve  and  rather  cold  manners  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, disposed  to  copy  the  formality  of  the  Prussian 
court,  displeased  her  so  much  that  she  soon  greatly  dis- 
liked the  "  Neuchatelois,"  Neuchatel,  and  even  Switzer- 
land. For  her,  Carlsruhe  was  paradise  on  earth,  and 
her  only  wish  was  to  return  and  live  there. 

Agassiz,  during  the  first  three  years  of  his  married 
life,  showed  more  than  at  any  other  period  the  brilliancy 
of  his  rare  intellect,  the  deepness  of  his  devotion  to  the 
progress  of  natural  history,  and  the  greatness  of  the 
effort  he  was  able  to  make  to  place  himself  among 
the  foremost  naturalists  of  the  time. 

During  the  spring  of  1834,  the  first  number  of  the 
"  Poissons  fossiles  "  came  out,  and  made  a  great  sensa- 
tion among  geologists  and  zoologists.  The  subject  had 
until  then  baffled  all  palaeontologists,  no  one  having 
ventured  to  go  deeply  into  it,  on  account  of  osteologic 
difficulties  and  the  material  obstacle  of  drawings.  The 
most  difficult  to  please  declared  the  work  remarkably 
executed,  and  Agassiz  received  approbation  and  con- 
gratulations from  every  quarter.     Undoubtedly  the  first 


1 832-35.]  FIRST   VISIT  TO  ENGLAND.  59 

"livraison"  fully  deserved  such  a  reception.  Agassiz 
never  surpassed,  perhaps  never  equalled,  that  first 
number  of  the  "  Fossil  Fishes."  It  is  the  work  of  a 
great  master. 

A  few  days  after,  in  May,  1834,  another  memoir, 
also  very  remarkable,  was  read  before  the  Natural 
History  Society  of  Neuchatel  on  "  Quelques  Especcs 
de  Cyprins  du  lac  de  Neuchatel "  ("  Memoires  Soc.  Sc. 
nat.  de  Neuchatel,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  33).  In  this  Agassiz 
shows  his  tendency  to  create  new  genera  and  his  admi- 
rable talent  for  description  of  species  and  for  classifica- 
tion. 

In  August,  1834,  Agassiz  made  a  long-desired  visit 
to  England.  Buckland,  Lyell,  and  others  received  him 
with  open  arms.  His  visit  coincided  with  Francois 
Arago's  journey  to  collect  material  for  his  academic 
eulogy  of  Watts,  and  as  he  had  become  well  acquainted 
with  Arago  during  his  sojourn  at  Paris  in  1832,  they 
were  much  together,  meeting  at  Oxford  at  the  hos- 
pitable home  of  Buckland,  and  travelling  together  to 
Edinburgh,  and  back  to  Paris. 

Agassiz  found  such  a  wealth  of  fossil  fishes  that  he 
wrote  at  once  to  his  artist,  Dinkel,  to  come  over.  One 
of  the  rooms  of  the  Geological  Society,  then  at  the 
Somerset  House,  was  generously  placed  at  his  disposal 
by  the  society,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  collected  there 
some  two  thousand  specimens,  he  began  in  earnest  his 
studies  of  comparison,  determination,  and  classification, 
and  directed  Dinkel  to  draw  all  specimens  worthy  of 
being  reproduced  for  his  great  monograph,  or  even 
such    as    might    prove    useful    afterward    for    general 


60  LOUIS  AGASS1Z.  [chap.  iv. 

description.  Dinkel  remained  in  England  for  several 
years,  either  in  London,  or  at  the  country  seat  of 
Philip  Egerton,  near  Chester,  and  at  Enniskillen  in  Ire- 
land, and  made  one  of  the  best  and  most  valuable 
collections  of  drawings  of  fossil  fishes,  which  was  after- 
ward purchased  by  the  subscriptions  of  English  geolo- 
gists, and  presented  to  the  British  Museum. 

On  the  3d  of  December,  1834,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Neuchatel  Society  of  Natural  History,  Agassiz  deliv- 
ered a  lecture  on  the  present  state  of  natural  science 
in  England,  on  the  splendid  collections  of  fossils  and 
living  animals  there,  and  more  particularly  on  the  great 
progress  and  extraordinary  enlargement  of  the  Zoologi- 
cal Garden  of  London. 

The  echinoderms  had  already  attracted  much  of  his 
attention.  The  peculiar  beauties  of  these  fossils,  their 
great  numbers  around  Neuchatel  and  in  the  Jura  Moun- 
tains, and  the  ease  of  identifying  them,  even  from 
fragments,  led  him  to  undertake  a  "  Monographic  des 
Echinodermes."  At  the  meeting  of  the  Neuchatel 
Society,  Jan.  10,  1834,  he  made  a  communication,  in 
abstract,  of  the  main  discoveries  already  arrived  at 
by  his  researches,  and  his  memoir  entitled,  "  Notice 
sur  les  fossiles  du  terrain  cretace  du  Jura  Neuchate- 
lois  "  ("  Memoire  Soc.  Sc.  nat.  de  Neuchatel,"  Vol.  I., 
p.  126,  1835)  began  his  series  of  publications  on  "  Echi- 
nides."  He  describes  twelve  species  found  in  the  cre- 
taceous rocks  of  Neuchatel,  eight  of  which  were  entirely 
new.  The  paper  is  marked  by  great  originality  of 
classification,  clearness  of  description,  and  exactness  of 


1832-35  •]     PRODROME  DES  ECHINODERMES.  61 

drawing.  It  succeeded  better  than  any  other  publica- 
tion in  showing  that  the  cretaceous  strata  of  Neuchatel 
were  a  special  formation,  differing  from  the  Green 
Sand  and  Gault  of  England,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
younger  than  the  Portland  stone  of  the  Jurassic  sys- 
tem. At  that  time,  the  name  Neocomian,  to  designate 
the  Neuchatel  strata  of  the  Lower  Cretaceous  had  not 
yet  been  used  by  Thurmann,  who  offered  it  at  a  meet- 
ing of  Jurassian  geologists  at  Besancon,  in  September, 

1835. 
The  "  Prodrome  d'une  monographie  des  Radiaires  ou 

Echinodermes,"  read  also  before  the  Neuchatel  Society 
on  the  10th  of  January,  1834,  was  published  in  1835,  at 
page  168  of  the  first  volume  of  the  memoirs  of  that 
society ;  it  is  the  starting-point  of  all  the  publications 
on  the  echinoderms,  according  to  the  principles  of 
classification  of  Cuvier.  Agassiz  followed  the  method 
of  his  master ;  and  in  the  first  twelve  pages  he  gives  a 
most  remarkable  exposition  of  their  zoological  charac- 
ters, and  of  his  views  on  the  classification  and  deter- 
mination of  the  genera  of  that  class  of  marine  animals. 
Curiously  enough,  a  year  and  a  half  later,  in  August,  1835, 
Charles  Des  Moulins,  an  able  zoologist  of  Bordeaux, 
without  any  knowledge  of  the  works  of  Agassiz,  pub- 
lished  his  "Etudes  sur  les  Echinides,"  in  three  papers; 
Bordeaux,  1835-1837.  The  first  two,  published  in  August 
and  December,  1835,  contain  no  reference  to  Agassiz's 
researches;  but  the  third  paper,  dated  September,  1837, 
contests  the  priority  of  some  of  the  genera  created  by 
Agassiz.     As  a  whole,  the  two  memoirs  by  Agassiz  and 


62  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  iv. 

Des  Moulins  contain  many  similar  results,  and  their  coin- 
cidence of  publication  and  of  result,  due  to  a  mere 
accident,  is  very  honourable  to  both.  Des  Moulins  pre- 
sented more  facts  and  observations  on  the  living  and 
Tertiary  echinoderms,  while  Agassiz  brought  forward 
more  new  forms  and  new  genera  from  the  secondary 
(Cretaceous  and  Jurassic)  echinoderms,  and  also  a 
better  bibliographical  knowledge  of  the  subject. 

The  "  Tableaux  synonymiques  des  Echinides  "  of  Des 
Moulins,  is  another  "  Prodrome,"  corrected  and  finished, 
according  to  Des  Moulins  himself,  in  April,  1837,  more 
than  a  year  after  the  publication  of  Agassiz's  "  Pro- 
drome." Des  Moulins  says  that  when,  on  the  point  of 
finishing  the  manuscript  of  his  "  Tableaux  synony- 
miques," he  received  from  Agassiz  a  copy  of  his  "  Pro- 
drome," and  that  he  was  thus  enabled  to  interpolate  all 
Agassiz's  synonymy,  including  also  the  names  of  species 
described  in  works  by  several  writers  which  Des  Mou- 
lins did  not  possess  and  had  never  seen.  The  question 
of  priority  was  settled  by  Des  Moulins,  in  favour  of 
Agassiz ;  Des  Moulins's  claims  to  priority  being  lim- 
ited to  two  genera :  Collyrites  instead  of  Disaster  of 
Agassiz,  and  Echinocidaris  instead  of  Arbacia  of  Gray; 
a  detail  simply  in  Agassiz's  classification  of  the  great 
family  of  Echinoderms. 

The  winter  of  1834-183 5  and  all  the  spring  of  1835 
were  devoted  to  his  great  work  on  fossil  fishes,  the  echi- 
noderm  studies  being  considered  by  Agassiz  as  a  sort  of 
relaxation  and  recreation.  New  numbers  of  the  "  Pois- 
sons  fossiles  "  were  issued,  the  text  not  corresponding 


I832-35-]         SECOND    VISIT  TO  ENGLAND.  63 

with  the  atlas  of  plates,  which  at  the  time  rendered  rather 
difficult  and  confusing  the  task  of  those  who  wanted 
to  follow  him.  His  two  friends  of  Berlin,  Leopold  von 
Buch  and  Alexander  von  Humboldt,  complained  of  this, 
and  von  Buch  went  so  far  as  to  call  his  method  of  issu- 
ing text  in  fragments  from  different  volumes  diabolical. 
Humboldt,  although  calling  Agassiz,  in  his  letter  of  the 
10th  of  May,  1835,  "a  great  and  profound  naturalist," 
and  speaking  of  his  "admiration  of  your  eminent 
works,"  adds :  "  I  also  complain  a  little,  though  in  all 
humility ;  but  I  suppose  it  to  be  due  to  the  difficulty  of 
concluding  any  one  family  of  (fossil  fishes),  when  new 
materials  are  daily  accumulating  on  your  hands.  Con- 
tinue then  as  before.  In  my  judgment,  M.  Agassiz 
never  does  wrong."  To  any  one  who  knows  how 
sarcastic  and  sharp  Humboldt  was,  it  is  surprising 
to  see  him  treating  Agassiz  so  tenderly,  using  circum- 
locution in  admonishing  him,  and  placing  the  burden 
of  sharpest  criticism  on  his  friend  von  Buch. 

The  isolation  of  Agassiz  in  a  small  town,  beyond 
direct  intercourse  with  other  naturalists  and  savants  in 
general,  had  already  begun  to  tell.  If  he  had  been 
exposed  to  daily  friction  with  his  fellow-naturalists,  he 
would  have  avoided  many  mistakes  and  false  steps. 

In  July,  1835,  Agassiz  took  his  young  wife  on  a  visit 
to  her  parents  at  Carlsruhe,  and  left  her  there  while  he 
went  a  second  time  to  England,  where  he  remained  until 
the  end  of  October,  working  hard  at  descriptions  of  all 
the  fossil  fishes  he  had  collected  the  previous  year,  and 
revising  and  directing  the  work  of  his  two  artists;   for 


64  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  iv. 

besides  Dinkel,  he  now  had  a  second  draughtsman,  M. 
Weber,  another  of  his  Munich  friends.  The  expenses 
had  grown  so  large  that  he  began  to  think  that  he  had 
"  committed  an  imprudence  in  throwing  myself  into  an 
enterprise  so  vast  in  proportion  to  my  means  as  my 
'  Poissons  fossiles.'  His  publisher,  Cotta  of  Stuttgart, 
had  abandoned  the  undertaking  as  being  too  expensive 
and  attended  with  too  many  alcas>  and  Agassiz  bravely 
resolved  to  be  his  own  publisher,  —  a  very  rash  decision 
on  his  part,  taking  into  account  his  complete  lack  of 
business  capacity  ;  but  as  he  says  :  "  Having  begun  it,  I 
have  no  alternative ;  my  only  safety  is  in  success.  I 
have  a  firm  conviction  that  I  shall  bring  my  work  to 
a  happy  issue,  though  often  in  the  evening  I  hardly 
know  how  the  mill  is  to  be  turned  to-morrow." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  for  the 
advancement  of  science  in  Dublin,  which  Agassiz  at- 
tended, another  appropriation  of  one  hundred  guineas, 
similar  to  the  one  voted  the  preceding  year  toward  the 
facilitating  of  researches  upon  English  fossil  fishes,  was 
granted  him,  which  allowed  him  to  pay  his  two  artists. 
His  presence  in  England  and  Ireland  greatly  helped 
the  subscriptions  to  his  work.  English  savants  acted 
generously,  and  Agassiz's  reputation  grew  rapidly 
among  them.  But,  nevertheless,  English  enthusiasm 
never  went  so  far  as  to  offer  him  a  single  official  posi- 
tion during  his  whole  life. 

In  France  the  number  of  subscriptions  was  far  below 
what  it  was  in  England,  only  fifteen  copies  being  dis- 
posed of.     Again,  at  this  time,  the  loss  of  Cuvier  was 


I832-35-]     BRITISH  ASSOCIATION  AT  DUBLIN.  65 

felt ;  for  he  alone  would  have  had  the  power  to  get  a 
subscription  for  fifty  or  sixty  copies  from  the  govern- 
ment, as  he  did  for  his  "  Poissons  vivants,"  which  would 
have  placed  Agassiz  at  ease.  Properly  engineered, 
Agassiz  might  have  succeeded  in  getting  the  French 
government  interested  in  his  great  work,  but  for  some 
reason  he  withdrew  from  the  undertaking,  and  did  not 
even  make  an  attempt  in  that  direction  during  his  stay 
in  Paris. 

An  incident  occurred  at  Dublin,  during  the  meeting 
of  the  British  Association,  which  was  recorded  in  a 
letter  from  Adam  Sedgwick  to  Lyell,  dated  Sept.  20, 
1835.  Sedgwick  says:  "Agassiz  joined  us  at  Dub- 
lin, and  read  a  long  paper  to  our  section  (the  Geo- 
logical Section).  But  what  think  you  ?  Instead  of 
teaching  us  what  we  wanted  to  know,  and  giving  us  of 
the  overflowing  of  his  abundant  ichthyological  wealth, 
he  read  a  long,  stupid,  hypothetical  dissertation  on 
geology,  drawn  from  the  depths  of  his  ignorance.  And, 
among  other  marvels,  he  told  us  that  each  formation 
{e.g.,  the  lias  and  the  chalk)  was  formed  at  one  moment 
by  a  catastrophe,  and  that  the  fossils  were  by  such 
catastrophes  brought  from  some  unknown  region,  and 
deposited  where  we  find  them.  When  he  sat  down,  I 
brought  him  up  again,  by  some  specific  questions  about 
his  ichthyological  system,  and  then  he  both  instructed 
and  amused  us.  I  hope  we  shall,  before  long,  be  able 
to  get  this  moonshine  out  of  his  head,  or  at  least  pre- 
vent him  from  publishing  it.  His  great  work  is  going 
on  admirably  well.     I  think  it  is  by  far  the  most  impor- 

F 


66  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  iv. 

tant  work  now  on  hand  in  the  geological  world  "  ("  Life 
and  Letters  of  Sedgwick,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  447,  Cambridge, 
1890).  Agassiz  wisely  withdrew  his  very  objectionable 
paper.  It  was  one  of  the  weak  points  of  his  disposition 
to  indulge  in  wild  suppositions  on  subjects  of  which  he 
knew  very  little,  and  to  plunge  into  speculation  abso- 
lutely out  of  his  range  of  research. 

It  was  on  this  occasion,  at  a  festival  at  Florence 
Court,  the  seat  of  Lord  Enniskillen,  that  Enniskillen, 
as  it  was  related  by  his  son,  Lord  Cole,  to  Lyell,  was 
put  "  in  great  good  humour,"  for  long  time  after,  by 
the  perfect  coolness  with  which  Agassiz  made  "  Murchi- 
son  and  some  other  guest  glorious,  and  Sedgwick  com- 
fortable."1 Such  a  jolly  set  of  hammer-bearers  Lord 
Enniskillen  had  never  seen  before,  and  Murchison 
acknowledged  that  he  had  found  in  Agassiz  his  master. 
At  the  hospitable  table  of  Lord  Enniskillen  the  old 
Munich  student  proved  a  match  for  the  old  trooper  of 
the  Peninsula  War. 

Not  long  after  his  return  to  Neuchatel,  a  son,  Alex- 
ander, so  named  in  honour  of  Agassiz's  best  friend,  Alex- 
ander Braun,  was  born  on  the  1st  of  December,  1835. 
For  more  than  one  reason  it  was  a  great  event  in  the 
family,  for  from  that  moment  Mrs.  Agassiz,  who  showed 
herself  at  once  an  excellent  and  most  careful  mother, 
entirely  abandoned  pencil  and  books,  and  devoted  all 
her  time  and  strength  to  her  son,  and  afterward  to  her 
two  daughters,  —  one  Ida,  born  Aug.  8,  1837;  an^  the 
other,  Pauline,  born  Feb.  8,  1841. 

1  "  Life  of  Sir  Charles  Lyell,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  457,  and  also  "Life  and  Let- 
ters of  Sedgwick,"    Vol.  I.,  p.  445. 


1832-35.]  LETTER    TO  PICTET.  67 

Indeed,  with  the  scanty  means  at  her  disposal,  Mrs. 
Agassiz  had  her  hands  full,  and  even  more  than  full, 
as  we  shall  see  by  and  by ;  and  it  is  not  surprising  that 
she  could  no  longer  manifest  active  interest  in  her  hus- 
band's scientific  work.  It  would  have  been  beyond 
human  power  to  continue  her  work  of  drawing  fossil 
fishes  and  helping  at  manuscripts. 

But  we  must  not  anticipate:  let  us  return  to  Agassiz's 
various  and  constantly  increasing  work  at  Neuchatel. 
Four  letters  written  at  this  time  to  two  naturalists,  who 
were  counted  among  his  best  and  most  trusted  friends, 
Jules  Pictet  of  Geneva  and  Celestin  Nicolet  of  La 
Chaux-de-fonds,  will  give  an  intimate  view  of  his 
scientific  activity. 

Neuchatel,  24  novembre,  1833. 
Monsieur  Jules  Pictet, 

a  Geneve. 

• 

Monsieur,  —  Je  viens  de  recevoir  votre  lettre  et  je  nVempresse 
d'y  repondre,  dans  Tespoir  d'obtenir  le  plus  vite  possible  les  objets 
que  vous  voulez  bien  offrir  a  notre  Musee.  J'espere  que  des  a 
present,  nous  pourrons  entrer  en  relations  cTechanges  suivies.  M. 
Coulon  et  moi  sommes  dans  ce  moment  occupe's  a  ranger,  et  a  deter- 
miner les  collections,  pour  en  mettre  les  doubles  a  notre  disposition, 
ce  qui  facilitera  beaucoup  nos  e'changes.  .  .  .  En  echange  nous 
pouvons  vous  offrir  en  general  surtout  des  Poissons  surtout  plu- 
sieurs  especes  d'eau  douce  nouvelles  et  inedites,  des  Mollusques 
en  esprit  de  vin  et  des  coquilles  d'especes  vivantes,  des  coquilles 
fossiles  surtout  du  Lias  et  des  etages  jurassiques  inferieurs  du 
Wurtemberg,  des  Zoophytes  en  esprit  de  vin  et  des  fossiles ;  des 
roches,  surtout  des  series  completes  du  Gres  Bigare,  du  Muschelkalk, 
du  Keuper  et  des  terrains  jurassiques  ;  les  fossiles  et  les  roches  de  la 
Craie  des  environs  de  Neuchatel  qui  sont  ties  nombreux.  Nous 
avons  aussi  beaucoup  de  doubles  des  plantes  d'AUemagne.     \  oila 


68  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  iv. 

done  assez  de  materiaux  pour  faire  de  nombreux  echanges  ;  veuillez 
seulement,  s'il  vous  plait  preciser  davantage  ce  que  vous  desirez 
recevoir  d'abord,  et  puisque  vous  voulez  bien  nous  faire  le  premier 
envoi  ne  pas  trop  tarder  a.  le  faire.  Si  vous  aviez,  des  Dicer  as  et  en 
general  des  fossiles  de  la  Montagne  des  Fis  (Savoie),  vous  nous 
obligeriez  beaucoup  de  nous  en  envoyer,  nous  voudrions  pouvoir  les 
comparer  avec  notre  Craie.  Si  vous  avez  des  especes  de  poissons 
du  Bresil  qui  ne  soient  pas  mentionnees  dans  mon  ouvrage,  elles 
seraient  aussi  bien  venues  pour  notre  Musee. 

Je  fais  maintenant  imprimer  la  2feme  Hvraison  des  "  Poissons  fos- 
siles/'' qui  contiendra  la  description  des  genres  Platysomus,  Tetra- 
gonolepis,  Dapediumy  Lemionotus,  et  Lepidotus,  et  une  partie  de 
l'Osteologie  generale  des  poissons.  II  est  facheux  que  les  publica- 
tions periodiques  obligent  les  auteurs  a.  morceler  leurs  sujets ;  mais 
enfin  avec  le  temps  on  finit  par  les  rendre  complets. 

Puisqirenfin  vous  voulez  bien  nvoffrir  votre  appui  dans  mes 
rechercbes  sur  les  objets  qui  vous  entourent  de  plus  pres,  oserai-je 
vous  prier  de  bien  vouloir  m'adresser  par  la  Messagerie,  un  jour 
qu'il  fera  froid ;  un  exemplaire  de  votre  Gravanche,  et  une  ou  deux 
de  Fera,  de  differentes  dimensions.  Je  vous  offre  en  echange  les 
Coregones  du  lac  de  Constance,  de  Baviere  et  de  Neuchatel.  Je 
crois  avoir  vide  la  question  des  Salmones  d'Europe,  ce  n'est  plus 
qiva.  la  synonymie  que  je  dois  donner  encore  quelques  soins ;  aussi 
je  cherche  a.  receuillir  tous  les  noms  de  province.  Cuvier  dans 
la  2*me  edition  du  "  Regne  Animal "  a  admis  beaucoup  trop 
d'especes. 

Agreez,  Monsieur,  Tassurance  de  mon  devouement,  et  de  ma  con- 
sideration distinguee. 

Ls.  Agassiz. 


1832-35-]  LETTER    TO   PICTET  69 


Neuchatel,  22  avril,  1835. 
Monsieur  Jules  Pictet, 
a  Geneve. 

Monsieur,  —  Depuis  que  j'ai  eu  le  plaisir  de  correspondre  avec  vous 
pour  notre  premier  echange,  Farrangement  de  nos  poissons  s'est  tres 
avance  et  une  grande  partie  de  la  collection  est  trie'e,  et  les  doubles 
sont  mis  a  part.  II  nous  est  done  maintenant  bien  plus  facile  d'ef- 
fectuer  les  ^changes  que  precedemment ;  cependant  nos  catalogues 
ne  sont  point  encore  faits.  Cest  pour  cette  raison,  Monsieur,  que 
tout  en  acceptant  avec  reconnaissance  roffre  que  vous  me  faites  pour 
notre  Musee,  je  vous  prierais  si  cela  pouvait  vous  convenir,  de  bien 
vouloir  nous  envoyer  un  exemplaire  de  toutes  les  especes  de  poissons 
exotiques  que  vous  possedez  ;  en  revanche,  je  vous  adresserai  tout  ce 
que  vous  n'avez  pas  encore  de  mes  poissons  d^au  douce,  et  si  cela  ne 
suffit  pas,  j'ai  encore  quelques  exemplaires  de  poissons  des  grandes 
rivieres  du  Bresil.  Enfin  j'ai  rapporte  d'Angleterre  une  telle  masse 
de  fossiles,  que  je  ne  serais  pas  embarrasse  de  vous  transmettre  lequi- 
valent  des  poissons  que  vous  me  feriez  parvenir.  Si  parmi  vos  especes 
il  s'en  trouvait  que  nous  eussions,  ce  dont  je  doute,  je  pourrais  vous 
les  renvoyer  avec  les  notres. 

S'il  vous  manque  beaucoup  de  poissons  de  la  Mediterranee,  je 
pourrais  vous  en  fournir  beaucoup.  Je  desirerais  egalement  beau- 
coup  connaitre  les  poissons  du  lac  de  Lugano,  du  moins  les  especes 
des  genres  critiques. 

Je  pense  ne  plus  renvoyer  d'un  an,  la  publication  de  mes  "  Pois- 
sons d'eau  douce";  la  5^  livraison  des  (Poissons)  fossiles  paraitra 
dans  six  semaines. 

Agreez,  M^onsieur,  Passurance  de  ma  consideration  distinguoc.  et 
de  mon  entier  devouement. 

Ls.  Acjassiz. 


70  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  iv. 

NEUCHATEL,  le  4  Mars,  1834. 
Monsieur  Celestin  Nicolet, 

a  La  Chaux-de-fonds. 

Monsieur, — J'ai  recu  il  y  a  15  jours  et  lu  le  meme  soir  a  notre 
societe  la  notice  detaillee  que  vous  nous  avez  adressee  sur  le  calcaire 
lithographique  des  Montagnes  (de  Neuchatel).  Votre  communica- 
tion a  excite  Tinteret  qu'elle  merite  et  tous  les  membres  de  la  soci- 
ete vous  feliciteront  de  votre  zele  si  vous  parvenez  a  decouvrir 
quelque  localite  011  Ton  puisse  lever  des  plaques  assez  grandes  pour 
executer  les  travaux  lithographiques. 

II  se  rattache  une  question  geologique  a.  vos  recherches  qui  me 
parait  importante  sous  le  point  de  vue  scientifique,  c'est  Tapprecia- 
tion  rigoureuse  des  rapports  de  position  qui  existe  entre  votre 
calcaire  lithographique  et  celui  de  Sohlenhofen.  En  Baviere  le 
calcaire  est  stratifie  en  couches  horizontales  et  c'est  surement  de 
la  que  vient  la  beaute'  des  pierres  de  Sohlenhofen ;  tandisque  dans 
la  chaine  du  Jura  tous  les  calcaires  ont  ete  disloques  pas  des  sou- 
levements  posterieurs  a.  leur  deposition  et  sont  par  consequent  tres 
fendilles.  II  serait  bien  interessant  d'avoir  une  collection  un  peu 
etendue  des  fossiles  de  votre  calcaire  afin  de  pouvoir  les  comparer 
avec  le  grand  nombre  de  ceux  que  Ton  trouve  a  Sohlenhofen ;  ce 
serait  un  moyen  de  plus  de  determiner  les  relations  geologiques 
de  ces  depots.  Si  vous  avez  occasion  d'en  receuillir,  ne  le  negligez 
pas ;  ce  serait  un  grand  service  que  vous  nous  rendriez  de  nous  en 
adresser  le  plus  d'echantillons  possibles. 

Agreez,  Monsieur,  Passurance  de  ma  consideration  distinguee. 

Ls.  Agassiz. 


Neuchatel,  le  19  Mars,  1835. 
Monsieur  Celestin  Nicolet, 

a.  La  Chaux-de-fonds. 

Monsieur,  —  La  Societe  des  Sciences  Naturelles  de  Neuchatel 
ayant  decide  dlmprimer  ses  memoires  a  nomme  un  comite  pour  en 
faire  un  choix  et  soigner  ^impression.  Ce  comite  desirant  voir  vos 
observations  geologiques  figurer  dans  son  receuil  nfa  charge  de 
vous  demander   Tautorisation  de   faire    imprimer  votre  notice    sur 


1832-35.]  LETTER    TO   C.   ATCOLET  71 

la  pierre  lithographique  des  montagnes,1  en  vous  priant  d'y  ajouter 
d'abord  vos  nouvelles  observations  sur  les  gisement  de  ces  couches, 
sur  leur  age  geologique,  et  sur  les  fossiles  qu'elles  contiennent. 
Vous  nous  obligerez  infiniment  en  repondant  bientot  a  notre  appel. 
Deja  les  premieres  feuilles  de  nos  Memoires  sont  imprimees. 

J'ai  beaucoup  regrette  de  ne  m'etre  pas  trouve  a  Neuchatel 
lorsque  vous  vous  y  etes  reunis  avec  Messieurs  Voltz,  Thurmann  et 
Thirria ;  mais  j'espere  avoir  bientot  le  plaisir  de  faire  votre  con- 
noissance,  M.  Ladame  m'ayant  propose  il  y  a  deja  quelques  temps 
de  faire  une  course  avec  lui  a  la  Chaux-de-fonds. 

Agreez,  Monsieur,  l'assurance  de  ma  consideration  tres  distinguee. 

Ls.  Agassiz. 

1  "  Essai  sur  le  calcaire  lithographique  des  environs  de  La  Chaux-de- 
fonds  "  ("  Memoires  de  la  Soc.  Sc.  nat.  de  Neuchatel,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  66,  1835). 


CHAPTER  V. 

1S36-1837. 

The  Wollaston  Medal  —  First  Paper  of  de  Charpentier  ox  the 
Glacial  Theory  —  Venetz's  Observations  on  Large  Boulders 
perched  on  the  sldes  of  the  alpine  valleys  —  dr.  hermann 
Lebert,  the  First  Disciple  and  Pupil  of  de  Charpentier  and 
Venetz  —  Extract  from  de  Charpentier's  First  Paper  —  Agas- 
siz's  Summer  Vacation  at  Bex,  near  the  House  of  de  Char- 
pentier—  Conversion  of  Agassiz  to  the  Glacial  Theory;  His 
Creation  of  the  Ice-age  —  Karl  Schimper  visits  Agassiz  at  Bex 
and  at  neuchatel  —  dlscours  de  neuchatel  july  24,  1 837,  on 
the  Ice-age. 

The  year  1836  was  happily  inaugurated  by  the 
reception  of  the  Wollaston  Medal,  awarded  to  Agassiz 
by  the  Geological  Society  of  London,  at  its  annual 
meeting  on  February  19.  The  President,  Charles 
Lyell,  a  life-long  friend  of  Agassiz,  in  presenting 
the  medal,   said  :  — 

On  a  former  occasion  we  presented  the  proceeds  of  the  Donation 
Fund  1  for  one  year  to  the  same  distinguished  naturalist,  to  assist 
him  in  the  publication  of  the  early  part  of  his  great  work,  the 
importance  of  which  was  then  only  beginning  to  be  known  to 
the  scientific  world.  It  will  ever  be  a  subject  of  gratification  to  us 
to  have  learned  that  this  small  pecuniary  aid  was  not  without  its 
influence   in  accelerating   the  publication    of  his  "  Researches  on 

1  The  sum  of  thirty  guineas,  or  £31,  10s.  sterling. 

72 


1  $36-37-]  / /  'OLL.  \STON  MEDAL.  73 

Fossil  Fish/'  arriving  as  it  did  opportunely  at  a  moment  when  the 
funds  which  could  be  appropriated  for  the  undertaking  were  nearly 
exhausted.  Mr.  Agassiz  acknowledged  at  the  time  his  obligation 
to  us  for  a  mark  of  sympathy  and  regard  which  he  received  so 
unexpectedly  from  a  foreign  country,  and  which  cheered  and  ani- 
mated him  to  fresh  exertions.  The  Council,  in  now  awarding  the 
Medal  to  him,  are  desirous  that  he  should  possess  a  lasting  testi- 
mony of  their  esteem  and  of  the  high  sense  which  they  entertain  of 
the  merit  of  his  scientific  labours. 


It  was  a  well-deserved  reward,  received  when  quite  a 
young  man,  —  in  his  thirtieth  year  only,  —  which  did 
honour  to  the  Geological  Society  of  London  as  well  as 
to  the  recipient.  Never  since  has  the  Wollaston  Medal 
been  bestowed  on  so  young  a  naturalist ;  his  is  a  unique 
case,  and  as  such  is  recorded  on  the  List  of  Awards 
of  the  Wollaston  Medal. 

In  1834,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Helvetic  Society  of 
Naturalists,  at  Lucerne,  Jean  de  Charpentier,  Director 
of  the  Salt  Works  at  Bex,  Canton  de  Vaud,  had  read  a 
short  paper  entitled,  "  Notice  sur  la  cause  probable  du 
transport  des  blocs  erratiques  de  la  Suisse."  Seldom,  if 
ever,  has  such  a  small  memoir  so  deeply  excited  the 
scientific  world.  It  was  received  at  first  with  incredulity 
and  even  scorn  and  mockery,  Agassiz  being  among 
its  opponents.  Its  publication,  however,  a  year  later, 
and  again  eighteen  months  later,  in  the  "  Annales  des 
Mines"  of  Paris,  Vol.  VIII.,  p.  219,  and  in  the  "  Biblio- 
theque  universelle ':  of  Geneva,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  1,  with  a 
German  translation  by  Julius  Froebel  and  Oswald 
Heer,  in  "  Mittheil.  aus  dem  gebiete  der  theoret. 
erdkunde,"  p.  482,  Zurich,  attracted  much  attention, 
and  the  smile  of  incredulity  with  which  it  was  received 


74  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

when  read  at   Lucerne  soon  changed  into  a  desire  to 
know  more  about  it. 

A  mountaineer,  Perraudin,  of  the  Bagnes  valley,  at 
the  foot  of  the  St.  Bernard,  in  Valais,  told  de  Charpentier, 
as  far  back  as  1815,  that  the  large  boulders  perched  on 
the  sides  of  the  Alpine  valleys  were  carried  and  left 
there  by  glaciers.  De  Charpentier  thought  the  hypoth- 
esis so  extraordinary  and  extravagant  that  it  was  not 
worth  examining  or  even  considering.  Fourteen  years 
later,  in  1829,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Swiss  naturalists 
at  the  Grand  St.  Bernard's  Hospital,  his  good  and 
most  esteemed  friend,  the  engineer  of  the  "  Ponts  et 
Chaussees  "  of  the  Valais  Canton,  M.  Venetz,  not  only 
supported  the  view  advanced  by  Perraudin,  but  told 
the  Society  that  his  observations  led  him  to  believe  that 
the  whole  Valais  has  been  formerly  covered  by  an 
immense  glacier,  and  that  it  even  extended  outside  of 
the  canton,  covering  all  the  "Canton  de  Vaud  "  as  far 
as  the  Jura  Mountains,  carrying  all  the  boulders  and 
erratic  materials,  which  are  now  scattered  all  over  the 
large  Swiss  valley.  In  1821  the  extremely  modest 
Venetz  had  read  before  the  Swiss  naturalists  a  paper 
entitled,  "  Memoire  sur  les  variations  de  la  temperature 
des  Alpes  de  la  Suisse."  In  some  way  the  memoir  was 
left  entirely  unnoticed,  and  the  manuscript  put  aside. 
De  Charpentier,  as  soon  as  he  was  convinced  of  the 
correctness  of  the  Venetz  theory,  hunted  up  the  man- 
uscript, which  was  buried  under  the  dust  of  the  archives 
of  the  Helvetic  Society  of  Naturalists,  and  had  it  finally 
printed  and  published,  in  1833,  —  twelve  years  after  it 
was  written,  —  in  "  Erstern  Bandes  zweyte  abtheilung," 


1836-37-]  OLD    GLACIERS  LN   VALAIS.  75 

of  the  "  Dcnkschiftcn  der  allgemeine  Schwcizcrischcn 
Gescllschaft  fiir  die  gesammten  Naturwissenchaften." 

As  this  initial  memoir  on  the  glacial  epoch  is 
extremely  rare,  I  will  quote  the  conclusions  and  one 
paragraph  :  — 

Monsieur  Perraudin,  conseiller  de  la  commune  de  Bagnes,  habile 
chasseur  de  chamois,  et  amateur  de  ces  sortes  d^bservations  [on 
old  moraines],  nous  a  assure  que  les  glaciers  de  Severen,  de  Loui, 
et  de  la  Chaux-de-Sarayer,  tous  dans  la  vallee  de  Bagnes,  ont  des 
moraines  fort  reconnaissables,  qui  sont  environ  a  une  lieue  de  la 
glace  actuelle.   .  .  . 

Nous  sommes  done  en  quelques  manieres  autorises  a  croire  :  — 

1)  Que  les  moraines  qui  se  trouvent  a.  une  distance  considerable 
des  glaciers,  datent  d\ine  epoque  qui  se  perd  dans  les  nuits  des 
temps.  .  .  . 

6)  Que  les  glaciers  parviendront  difficilement  a.  la  hauteur  gigan- 
tesque,  dont  nous  trouvons  tant  de  vestiges.   .   .   . 

Civil  Engineer  Venetz  was  not  educated  as  a  scientific 
man,  and  he  did  not  understand  the  scientific  method  of 
marshalling  and  classifying  facts  and  observations.  But 
he  found  in  his  friend  de  Charpentier  the  best  possible 
man  to  systematize  and  construct  a  new  science.  If  it 
was  Venetz  who  developed  and  sustained  the  hypothesis 
of  the  chamois  hunter,  Perraudin,  and  awaked  de  Char- 
pentier's  interest  in  the  question,  it  was  de  Charpentier, 
who  by  his  scientific  method  of  observation,  his  clear 
and  logical  reasoning,  accumulated  and  classified  on 
truly  scientific  bases  all  the  material  proofs,  such  as  the 
moraines,  the  rocJies  moiitonnccs  polies  et  st rices,  the 
cailloux  stric's,  the  bone  glaciaire,  etc.,  and  to  de  Char- 
pentier is  due  the  glacial  doctrine  and  the  glacial  theory. 

As  early  as  1833,  de  Charpentier  had  gathered  round 


76  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

him  at  Bex,  pupils  and  believers  in  the  new  science, 
including  among  the  first  ones  O.  Heer,  afterward  so 
celebrated  for  his  researches  in  fossil  botany  and  fossil 
entomology,  E.  Thomas,  the  botanist,  and  the  learned 
Dr.  H.  Lebert.  The  latter,  a  brilliant  German  political 
refugee  from  Breslau,  an  enthusiastic  friend  and  great 
admirer  of  de  Charpentier,  who  justly  compared  the 
splendid  and  characteristic  profile  of  de  Charpentier  to 
that  of  Keppler  and  of  Galileo,  and  pronounced  his 
head  as  typical  of  a  savant,  came  to  Bex  in  August, 
1833,  and  was  there  convinced  of  the  soundness  of  the 
views  of  Venetz  and  de  Charpentier.  For  him  the  beau- 
tiful demonstrations  of  de  Charpentier  were  conclusive, 
and  left  no  doubt;  so  much  so  that  in  1834,  on  the 
occasion  of  his  receiving  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medi- 
cine at  Zurich,  and  before  de  Charpentier  had  read 
his  paper  at  Lucerne,  he  gave  a  public  lecture  on 
the  glacial  theory. 

The  just  and  honest  Heer,  in  his  "  Le  Monde  primi- 
tif  de  la  Suisse,"  has  nobly  upheld  the  claims  of  de 
Charpentier,  saying :  "  C'est  Jean  de  Charpentier  qui 
le  premier  donna  une  base  scientifique  a  cette  hypothese 
par  une  serie  de  recherches  consciencieuses  et  par  une 
rigoureuse  combinaison  des  faits  connus."  And  he 
further  says  :  "  Jean  de  Charpentier  est  le  fondateur 
de  la  theorie  des  glaciers." 

The  short  paper  of  de  Charpentier  contains  some  of 
the  fundamental  principles  on  which  the  glacial  theory 
is  based,  and  is  so  important  that  some  extracts  will  be 
acceptable  to  all  those  who  like  to  follow  the  history  of 
a  great  discovery  from  its  infancy. 


1836-37-]     DE  CHARPENTIER'S  FIRST  PAPER.  77 

Extracts  from  Notice  sur  la  Cause  Probable  du 

Transport  des  Blocs  Erratiques  de  la  Suisse;  par 

M.  J.  de  Charpentier,  Directeur  des  mines  du  canton  dc 

Vaud.   {Ext  rait  du  Tome  VIII  dcs  "Annates  dcs  Mines" 

pp.  20.     Paris,  1835.) 

M.  Venetz,  en  etudiant  les  glaciers,  a  ete  conduit  a  s'occuper  des 
blocs  erratiques  transported  par  la  vallee  du  Rhone,  et  Texamen 
qu'il  a  fait  de  ces  blocs,  et  des  diverses  circonstances  qui  les  accom- 
pagnent,  Ta  convaincu  que  leur  transport  ma  pas  pu  s'effectuer  par 
le  moyen  de  l'eau,  quelque  enormes  qu'on  suppose  son  volume  et  sa 
vitesse,  et  quelque  puissante  que  soit  son  action.   .   .   . 

Les  depots  des  blocs  erratiques  presentent  constamment  un 
melange  informe  de  fragmens  de  toutes  les  dimensions,  depuis  celle 
d\m  grain  de  sable  jusqu'a  celle  de  plusieurs  milliers  de  pieds  cubes. 
On  trouve  sur  le  Jura  des  blocs  aussi  volumineux  que  dans  les  val- 
lees  des  Alpes.  II  n'existe  done  point  de  triage  selon  les  volumes 
et  les  poids  relatifs  des  blocs,  ce  qui  necessairement  aurait  du  avoir 
lieu  s'ils  avaient  ete  entralnes  et  amends  par  l'eau  ;  car,  dans  ce 
cas,  les  plus  gros  blocs  devraient  se  trouver  les  plus  voisins  du  lieu 
d'ou  la  debacle  et  le  courant  les  auraient  enleves,  et  ces  fragmens 
devraient  diminuer  de  volume  a.  mesure  qu'ils  en  sont  plus  eloignes, 
de  maniere  que  les  blocs  qiron  trouve  sur  les  pentes  du  Jura 
devraient  etre  en  general  sensiblement  plus  petits  que  ceux  qu'on 
rencontre  au  pied  et  dans  les  vallees  des  Alpes.  Mais,  nous  le 
repetons,  un  pareil  arrangement  ne  s'observe  nulle  part.   .   .   . 

Quoique  la  plupart  des  blocs  erratiques  presentent  une  forme 
arrondie  evidemment  par  frottement,  on  en  trouve  neanmoins  qui 
sont  non-seulement  aplatis,  mais  qui  sont  restes  presque  intacts, 
ayant  a  peine  leurs  angles  et  leurs  aretes  ecornees  ou  emoussccs. 
Si  leur  deplacement  avait  eu  lieu  par  un  courant,  on  ne  saurait  pas 
concevoir  comment  ils  auraient  pu  etre  routes  jusques  au  pied  du 
Jura  et  pousses  sur  son  faite,  sans  porter  des  marques  violentes  de 
frottement. 

Les  depots  de  ces  roches  transporters  presentent  ordinairement 
une  forme  alongee,  semblable  a  celle  dune  digue  ou  d'un  rempart, 


78  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

ou  bien  ils  forment  quelquefois  des  monticules  coniques,  isoles  ou 
disposes  en  file.  Ils  ne  se  rencontrent  jamais  en  forme  de  nappe 
ou  de  plateau.  Ces  digues  sont  placees  horizontalement  au  pied 
et  sur  la  pente  des  montagnes,  ordinairement  les  unes  derriere  les 
autres,  et  espacees  a  des  distances  inegales :  elles  sont  paralleles 
entre  elles  et  a  la  direction  de  la  vallee.  Quelquefois  deux  ou  plu- 
sieurs  de  ces  digues  se  trouvent  tellement  rapprochees  les  unes  des 
autres,  qu'elles  se  confondent  en  une  seule,  terminee  par  une  ou 
plusieurs  aretes.  La  plus  grande  elevation  a  laquelle  on  les  trouve 
sur  la  pente  des  montagnes  qui  bordent  la  vallee  du  Rhone,  est 
d'environ  i.ioo  a  1.200  pieds  au-dessus  de  ce  fleuve,  dans  les 
environs  de  Bex,  et  de  2.400  pieds  dans  ceux  de  Sion.  Le  sol  sur 
lequel  ils  reposent  n'est  jamais  forme  d'atterrissemens  ou  d'eboule- 
mens,  mais  c'est  toujours  du  roc  en  place. 

La  disposition  et  la  configuration  exterieure  de  ces  depots  sont 
inexplicables  par  la  theorie  dun  transport  par  le  moyen  dim  courant 
d'eau ;  car  l'eau  les  aurait  deposes  en  forme  de  nappes,  surtout  dans 
les  plaines  des  vallees  et  dans  celles  qui  se  trouvent  au  pied  des 
Alpes ;  cette  theorie  n'explique  pas  non  plus  comment  ces  blocs 
auraient  pu  franchir,  sans  les  combler,  les  lacs  qui  se  trouvent  a 
Textremite  inferieure  de  la  plupart  de  nos  grandes  vallees,  ni  la 
singuliere  position  de  ces  enormes  blocs  qif  on  trouve  isoles  dans 
la  plaine  ou  sur  la  pente  des  montagnes,  plantes  verticalement  sur 
le  sol,  et  quelquefois  brises  ou  fendus  du  bas  en  haut  dans  toute 
leur  longueur,  ce  qui  semble  indiquer  qu7ils  sont  tombes  a  peu  pres 
verticalement  sur  la  place  meme  ou  ils  se  trouvent  encore,  et  qu'ils 
se  sont  fendus  ou  brises  par  leur  chute. 

On  remarque  en  outre  que  les  blocs  sortis  d'une  vallee  laterale  ne 
se  melent  point  ou  tres  imparfaitement  avec  ceux  de  la  grande  vallee, 
ou  avec  ceux  qui  sont  sortis  d'une  vallee  opposee.  Ainsi  les  pierres 
feldspathiques  ou  talqueuses  de  la  vallee  d'Herens,  formant  des  de- 
pots considerables  pres  de  Sion,  ne  se  melent  point  avec  les  blocs 
calcaires  qui  proviennent  des  vallees  de  la  Sionne  et  de  la  Lierne, 
qui  toutes  les  deux  prennent  naissance  aupres  de  Rawyl,  et  se  termi- 
nent  a  la  grande  vallee  du  Rhone,  a  peu  pres  vis-a-vis  de  la  vallee 
d'Herens.  Les  digues  ou  remparts  qu'imitent  les  depots  de  blocs 
de  chacune  de  ces  vallees  sont  parfaitement  separes  et  distincts. 


1836-37-]     DE  CHARPENTIER'S  FIRST  PAPER.  79 

Feu  M.  Escher  de  la  Linth  avait  deja  remarque"  ce  meme  fait  par 
rapport  aux  grandes  vallees  de  la  Suisse,  c'est-a-dire  que  les  blo<  s 
erratiques  de  la  vallee  du  Rhone  ne  se  melaient  point  avec  ceux  qui 
etaient  sortis  de  la  vallee  de  TAar ;  que  ces  derniers  restaient  se'pare's 
et  distincts  des  depots  de  blocs  venus  de  la  vallee  de  la  Reuss,  etc. 
En  admettant  un  courant  d'eau  ou  une  debacle  qui  ait  eu  lieu  instan- 
tanement  et  a  la  fois  clans  ces  diverses  vallees,  on  ne  comprend  pas 
pourquoi  et  comment  les  pierres  entrainees  ne  se  melaient  pas  dans 
les  endroits  ou  ces  courans  venaient  se  toucher  et  se  joindre,  et 
surtout  la  ou  ils  frappaient  contre  le  Jura,  ce  qui  aurait  du  produire 
une  sorte  de  remou  ou  de  refoulement,  qui  loin  d'empecher  le  melange 
des  materiaux  que  ces  courans  amenaient  avec  eux,  l'aurait  au  con- 
traire  singulierement  favorise. 

Un  autre  phenomene  qu'on  observe  dans  les  vallees  de  toutes  les 
chaines  de  montagnes  qui  ont  fourni  des  blocs  erratiques,  ce  sont 
les  surfaces  lisses  que  presentent  les  rochers  qui  n'ont  pas  etc  de- 
grades par  la  decomposition  ou  par  des  eboulemens.  Ces  surfaces 
sont  evidemment  le  resultat  d'un  frottement,  et  comme  on  sait  que 
les  eaux  courantes  qui  charrient  du  sable  et  des  pierres,  usent  ot 
polissent  les  rochers  avec  lesquels  elles  viennent  en  contact,  on  a 
cru  que  les  surfaces  lisses  et  usees  des  rochers  de  nos  grandes  vallees 
etaient  dues  a  la  debacle  ou  au  grand  courant  qu"on  supposait  avoir 
transports  les  blocs  erratiques,  qui,  en  quelque  sorte,  auraient  fait 
office  de  Pemeril.  Pour  donner  plus  de  probability  a  cette  explica- 
tion, on  alleguait  le  fait  incontestable  que  ces  surfaces  polies  ne  se 
rencontrent  pas  audessus  du  niveau  que  les  blocs  transported  ont 
atteint  de  chaque  cote  de  la  vallee,  et  qifau-dessus  de  ce  niveau  les 
rochers  n'offrent  que  des  surfaces  raboteuses,  de  veritables  cassures. 

La  supposition  dime  debacle  ou  d'un  courant  n'explique  pas 
d'une  maniere  satisfaisante  ce  phenomene ;  car  comment  concevoir 
qu'une  si  immense  quantite  de  blocs  de  toutes  les  dimensions,  mise 
en  mouvement  par  une  enorme  masse  d'eau,  ait  pu  unir  et  rendre 
lisses  des  surfaces  verticales  et  d\me  grande  etendue?  Loin  de  les 
polir,  elle  n'aurait  fait  que  les  ecorner  et  les  e'brexher.  Comment 
des  blocs  entraine's  par  l'eau  auraient-ils  pu  frotter  el  user  ties  sur- 
faces qui  surplombent,  qui  forment  ces  sortes  de  voutes  que  nos 
montagnards  designent  par  le  nom  de  barmes  ou  de6a///ies.      Com- 


80  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

ment  expliquer,  par  cette  supposition,  la  formation  cle  surfaces  polies, 
derriere  des  rochers  qui  font  saillie,  et  qui,  par  ce  fait  meme,  auraient 
du  les  preserver  du  courant,  et  les  proteger  contre  le  choc  et  le 
frottement  des  corps  solides  charries  par  Teau? 

Mais  laissons  de  cote  ces  difficultes  et  admettons  pour  un  moment 
que  ces  surfaces  lisses  avaient  etc  produites  par  un  courant  d1eau  ; 
dans  ce  cas  elles  devraient  etre  plus  marquees  vers  Textremite 
infe'rieure  des  vallees  que  dans  leur  partie  superieure  ou  vers  leur 
naissance,  et  elles  devraient  etre  absolument  nulles  sur  les  cotes  des 
Alpes.  Eh  bien,  c'est  precisement  le  contraire ;  ces  surfaces  lisses 
et  polies  se  recontrent  depuis  le  pied  jusqu'au  faite  des  Alpes,  et 
plus  on  s'eleve,  mieux  on  les  trouve  prononcees ;  elles  sont  ex- 
tremement  distinctes  sur  le  Saint-Bernard,  le  Simplon,  le  Saint- 
Gothard,  le  Grimsel,  la  Gemmi,  le  Sanetsch,  le  col  d'Enzeindaz, 
etc.  .   .   . 

Je  pourrais  citer  encore  d'autres  faits  plus  ou  moins  contraires  a 
la  theorie  d'un  courant  d'eau,  si  ceux  que  je  viens  d'indiquer  ne  me 
paraissaient  pas  suffire  pour  faire  soupconner  que  Tagent  qui  a  tran- 
sporte  les  blocs  erratiques  a  ete  tout  autre  qu\me  debacle  ou  une 
masse  d'eau  en  mouvement. 

M.  Venetz  croit  que  des  glaciers  ont  ete  cet  agent,  et  que  ces 
depots  de  blocs  erratiques  ne  sont  autre  chose  que  des  moraines. 

Je  sens  fort  bien  tout  ce  qu'une  pareille  hypothese  oflfre  au  pre- 
mier abord  d'invraisemblable,  de  choquant,  d'extravagant  meme. 
En  effet,  comment  admettre,  comment  se  persuader  que  jadis  toutes 
nos  grandes  vallees  fussent  occupees  dans  toute  leur  longueur  par 
de  vastes  glaciers,  qui,  a.  leur  debouche  dans  la  plaine  au  pied  des 
Alpes,  se  seraient  etendus  en  forme  de  nappes  ou  d'enormes  even- 
tails  pour  couvrir  presque  toute  la  contree  jusqu'au  Jura,  et  remonter 
cette  chaine  en  nombre  d'endroits  jusques  a  son  faite,  et  le  depasser 
meme?  Comment  concilier  une  semblable  hypothese  avec  la  masse 
de  faits  qui  prouvent  que  jadis  la  temperature  de  nos  climats  a  ete 
bien  plus  elevee  qu'elle  ne  Test  maintenant?  .   .   . 

J'avoue  que  toutes  ces  objections  et  beaucoup  d'autres  se  pre- 
senterent  a  moi  lorsque  M.  Venetz.  il  y  a  environ  cinq  ans,  me  tit 
part  de  son  opinion.  Je  restai  dans  le  doute,  jusqu'a  ce  que  les  faits 
que  j'avais  mis  tant  de  soin  a  rechercher  et  a  examiner  pour  com- 


1836-37-]     DE   CHARPENTIER'S  FIRST  PAPER.  Si 

battre  cette  hypothese,  m'eussent  conduit  a.  un  resultat  tout  oppose 
a  celui  auquel  je  mY'tais  attendu.   .   .   . 

Les  glaciers  et  leurs  moraines  se  placant  devant  1'entree  de  quel- 
que  petite  vallc'e  laterale,  y  forment  une  sorte  de  barre,  qui,  empe- 
chant  Pe'coulement  des  eaux,  change  le  vallon  en  lac,  dans  lequel  les 
torrens  amenent  des  pierres,  des  sables  et  des  limons,  et  les  deposent 
par  lits.  II  n'est  done  pas  surprenant  de  rencontrer  quelquefois 
aupres  des  depots  des  blocs  erratiques  de  petits  amas  de  materiaux 
evidemment  stratifies  et  deposes  par  Peau. 

Quoique  la  plupart  des  blocs  charries  par  les  glaciers  soient 
arrondis,  011  aient  au  moins  leurs  angles  et  leurs  aretes  emousses 
ou  ecornes  par  le  frottement  qu'ils  eprouvent  les  uns  contre  les 
autres,  neanmoins  on  trouve  quelquefois  sur  le  dos  des  glaciers  de 
gros  blocs  isoles  qui  arrivent  sans  frottement,  et  par  consequent 
bien  conserves  jusqu'au  pied  du  glacier.  Ce  fait  explique  la  maniere 
dont  quelques-uns  des  blocs  erratiques  ont  pu  etre  transported  a  de 
fort  grandes  distances  sans  avoir  eprouve  de  frottement,  et  sans  que 
leurs  angles  et  leurs  aretes  aient  ete  sensiblement  endommages. 

La  forme  des  moraines  est  celle  d\me  digue  ou  d'un  rempart, 
termine  par  une  ou  plusieurs  aretes.  Dans  certains  cas  elle  est 
conique,  ou  bien  elle  presente  une  foule  de  monticules  coniques. 
Lorsqifun  glacier,  comme  il  arrive  le  plus  souvent,  a  plusieurs 
moraines,  elles  sont  toujours  paralleles  entre  elles,  et  place'es  a  des 
distances  inegales.  La  configuration  interieure  et  exterieure  des 
moraines,  et  leur  disposition  mutuelle  sont  done  exactement  les 
memes  que  celles  des  depots  des  blocs  erratiques. 

Les  glaciers  ne  produisent  jamais,  comme  les  torrens  et  les 
rivieres,  de  depots  en  forme  de  lits  ou  de  nappes,  parce  qu*ils  creu- 
sent  toujours  le  terrain  jusqu'au  roc  vif,  poussant  devant  eux  toutcs 
les  terres,  graviers  et  blocs  qu1ils  rencontrent  sur  leur  passage,  phe- 
nomene  connu  de  tous  ceux  qui  ont  observd  des  glaciers  dans  le 
temps  ou  ils  sont  en  progression,  et  qui  s'explique  tres  bien  par  la 
maniere  dont  les  glaciers  augmentent  et  avancent.  Puisque  les 
glaciers  en  s'avangant  dc'blaient  le  terrain  jusqu'au  roc  vif.  nous 
pouvons  facilement  concevoir  pourquoi  nos  lacs  n'ont  pas  vie  com- 
bles  par  la  quantite  immense  de  blocs,  de  gravier  et  de  sable  qui 
ont  du  les  traverser,  ou   plus   exactement,  qui   ont   du  passer   par 


82  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

dessus,  et  qui,  s"ils  avaient  ete  amenes  par  de  l'eau,  n'auraient  pas 
manque  de  les  remplir.   .   .   . 

Depuis  les  travaux  de  M.  de  Saussure,  tout  le  monde  sait  que 
deux  glaciers,  lorsqu'ils  viennent  a  s'atteindre  et  a  se  joindre  sous 
un  angle  aigu,  ne  melent  et  ne  confondent  point  leurs  moraines. 
Ce  fait  explique  parfaitement  pourquoi  les  blocs  erratiques  d'une  de 
nos  grandes  vallees  ne  sont  point  meles  avec  ceux  de  la  vallee 
voisine,  phenomene  duquel  on  ne  saurait  se  rendre  compte  par  la 
supposition  que  le  transport  de  ces  blocs  eut  ete  opere  par  le  moyen 
de  l'eau.  .   .   . 

On  sait  que  les  glaciers  frottent,  usent  et  polissent  les  rochers 
avec  lesqueis  ils  sont  en  contact.  Cherchant  a  setendre,  ils  suivent 
toutes  les  sinuosites,  et  se  pressent  et  se  moulent  en  quelque  sorte 
dans  tous  les  creux  et  toutes  les  excavations  qu'ils  peuvent  atteindre, 
et  en  polissent  les  surfaces,  meme  celles  qui  surplombent,  ce  qu'un 
courant  d'eau  charriant  des  pierres  ne  pourrait  effectuer. 

Comme  les  glaciers  prennent  naissance  sur  le  faite  des  Alpes, 
leur  action  destructive  doit  avoir  dure  beaucoup  plus  long-temps 
dans  les  regions  superieures  que  dans  les  basses  vallees  et  a  leur 
pied.  II  n'est  done  pas  etonnant  de  rencontrer  dans  les  hautes 
vallees  et  sur  les  cols  des  Alpes  des  marques  de  frottement  beau- 
coup  plus  considerables  et  mieux  prononcees  que  vers  leur  pied,  ce 
qui  devrait  etre  precisement  l'inverse  si  ce  frottement  avait  ete 
opere  par  un  courant  ou  une  debacle.  Enfin  Tobservateur  qui  part 
du  faite  du  Jura  dans  la  direction  meme  ou  les  blocs  erratiques  y 
sont  arrives,  en  suivant  constamment  leur  trace,  se  trouve  conduit 
jusquau  fond  des  hautes  vallees  des  Alpes,  et  jusqu'aux  glaciers 
qui  les  dominent,  ou  il  voit  enfin  ces  depots  devenir  de  veritables 
moraines.   .   .   . 

Je  termine  cette  notice  en  exprimant  le  vceu  quelle  puisse  attirer 
l"attention  des  naturalistes  sur  le  travail  que  prepare  M.  Venetz ; 
qirelle  puisse  les  engager  a  etudier  derechef  le  grand  phenomene 
des  blocs  erratiques. 

Agassiz  resolved  to  pass  his  summer  vacation  of 
1836  in  a  healthy  locality  among  the  Alps.     At  that 


I336-37-]  HJS  FIRST   VISIT  AT  BEX.  83 

time  resorts  were  few,  and  there  were  none  at  all  in 
the  centre  of  the  Alps.  At  about  the  time  of  his  mar- 
riage, in  1833,  de  Charpentier  had  invited  him  to  visit 
him  at  his  beautiful  home  "aux  Devens,"  near  Bex.  De 
Charpentier,  the  classmate,  at  the  Freiberg  School  of 
Mines,  of  Alexander  von  Humboldt  and  Leopold  von 
Buch,  the  author  of  the  best  geological  description  of 
the  Pyrenees  then  existing,  had  a  European  reputation 
which  brought  to  his  house  savants  from  every  country ; 
in  addition,  he  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  a  charming 
and  most  hospitable  companion,  and  was  the  possessor 
of  rich  collections  of  natural  history.  De  Charpentier 
had  married,  in  1828,  a  young  German  lady  of  noble 
family,  Miss  von  Gablenz  of  Dresden ;  and  as  Mrs. 
Agassiz  was  not  particularly  fond  of  Swiss  ladies, 
Agassiz  thought  that  an  acquaintance  with  Mrs.  de 
Charpentier,  a  German  lady  of  culture  and  refinement, 
might  be  agreeable  to  his  wife. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  think  that  Agassiz  was  attracted  to 
Bex  by  a  desire  to  study  the  glacial  question.  He  was 
adverse  to  the  hypothesis,  and  did  not  believe  in  the 
great  extension  of  glaciers  and  their  transportation  of 
boulders,  but,  on  the  contrary,  was  a  partisan  of  Lyell's 
theory  of  transport  by  icebergs  and  ice-cakes.  His  main 
object  was  to  pass  an  agreeable  vacation  with  his 
wife  and  child,  at  the  foot  of  the  Dent  du  Midi,  and 
near  a  family  of  savants  as  social  and  friendly  as  were 
de  Charpentier  and  wife.  In  all  this  he  was  not  disap- 
pointed;  but  from  being  an  adversary  of  the  glacial 
theory,  he  returned  to  Neuchatel  an  enthusiastic  convert 
to  the  views  and  observations  of  Venetz  and  de  Char- 


84  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

pentier.  Agassiz  found  lodgings  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  "  des  Devens,"  at  "la  Sallaz,"  a  suburb  of  the  small 
town  of  Bex,  and  daily  visited  de  Charpentier.  The 
site,  just  north  of  Bex,  on  rising  ground,  among  fine 
orchards  and  vineyards,  is  truly  magnificent ;  with  lux- 
uriant vegetation,  and  in  full  view  of  the  opening 
of  the  great  valley  of  the  Valais,  and  at  the  foot  of  the 
Dent  du  Midi.  Mrs.  Agassiz,  with  her  little  boy  Alex- 
ander, was  delighted  with  the  place,  and  with  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  de  Charpentier,  as  well  as  their  only  child,  a 
charming  girl  of  seven  years,  time  passed  quickly, 
and  Agassiz  found  in  more  intimate  acquaintance  with 
de  Charpentier,  another  charmer  of  men,  not  like  himself 
in  many  points,  but  very  similar  in  some.  For  instance, 
de  Charpentier  was  a  delightful  talker,  very  hospitable, 
and,  like  Agassiz,  enjoyed  hearing  the  "  chime  at  mid- 
night." The  evenings  passed  like  dreams,  in  endless 
conversations  on  scientific  subjects.  For  the  greater 
comfort  of  the  guests  collected  round  his  table,  —  for 
besides  Agassiz  there  were  Dr.  Lebert,  Em.  Thomas, 
Venetz,  Albert  Mousson,  Escher  von  der  Linth,  and 
Lardy,  —  de  Charpentier  ordered  the  best  wine  of  his 
cellar,  and  although  moderation  prevailed,  the  conver- 
sation was  often  enlivened,  and  hour  after  hour  passed 
so  quickly  that  the  company  frequently  did  not  separate 
until  a  late  hour ;  sometimes  not  before  daybreak.  It 
was  a  fruitful  and  genial  time  for  all  those  who  were 
fortunate  enough  to  be  present.  Agassiz  was  soon  con- 
verted into  a  glacialist  by  the  arguments,  and  more  espe- 
cially by  the  evidences  shown  him  by  de  Charpentier 
and  Venetz,  all  round  Bex,  and  in   several   excursions 


1836-37.]     CONVERSION-  TO    GLACIAL    THEORY.  85 

to  the  Valais.  With  his  power  of  quick  perception, 
his  unmatched  memory,  his  perspicacity  and  acuteness, 
his  way  of  classifying,  judging,  and  marshalling  facts, 
Agassiz  promptly  learned  the  whole  mass  of  irresistible 
arguments  collected  patiently  during  seven  years  by 
de  Charpentier  and  Venetz,  and  with  his  insatiable 
appetite  and  that  faculty  of  assimilation  which  he  pos- 
sessed in  such  a  wonderful  degree,  he  digested  the 
whole  doctrine  of  the  glaciers  in  a  few  weeks. 

Agassiz  saw  also  that  de  Charpentier  was  a  true 
"  scientific  epicurean '  in  the  best  and  most  elevated 
sense  of  the  word,  as  he  had  been  characterized  by 
Dr.  Lebert,  not  only  without  ambition  for  fame,  but 
even  indifferent  as  to  the  diffusion  of  his  discoveries 
among  scientific  men.  Lebert  calls  de  Charpentier 
"une  Belle  au  bois  dormant";  and  it  was  for  Agassiz 
to  play  the  role  of  the  prince  in  awaking  him,  and 
obliging  him  to  publish  his  researches ;  which  he  finally 
did  in  October,  1840,  under  the  title  of  "  Essai  sur  les 
Glaciers." 

Agassiz,  with  his  extraordinary  imagination,  saw  that 
the  phenomenon  of  the  extension  of  old  glaciers  had  not 
been  confined  to  the  Rhone  valley,  but  must  have  been 
general,  and  formed  a  special  period  in  the  history  of 
the  earth,  during  which  cold  prevailed  all  over  the 
world.  In  a  word,  Agassiz's  sojourn  at  Bex,  under  the 
teaching  of  de  Charpentier,  had  taught  him,  with  his 
far-reaching  thoughts,  to  add  an  entirely  unexpected, 
and,  at  that  time  generally  very  unacceptable,  stage  to 
the  various  periods  which  the  earth  had  passed  through  ; 
namely,  the  Ice-age. 


86  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

On  his  return  to  Neuchatel,  Agassiz  began  to  exam- 
ine attentively,  with  the  new  tool  he  had  obtained  at 
Bex,  all  the  vicinity  of  Neuchatel  and  Bienne,  finding 
everywhere  the  most  unmistakable  proofs  of  glacial 
action,  and  of  the  extension  of  the  glacier  of  the  Rhone 
to  the  Chaumont,  with  its  "  Pierre  a  Bot,"  and  far  away 
north  towards  Soleure. 

During  his  stay  at  Bex,  Agassiz,  as  a  good  friend, 
wished  to  share  the  great  pleasure  afforded  to  him  by 
his  stay  near  de  Charpentier,  and  he  kindly  invited  Karl 
Schimper  to  visit  him.  As  Agassiz  said  in  1842,  in  his 
defence  against  the  attacks  of  Schimper,  "  Through  the 
highly  interesting  works  of  Venetz  and  de  Charpentier 
upon  glaciers,  my  attention  was  called  to  these  phe- 
nomena. In  the  autumn  of  1836  I  went  to  Bex,  where 
I  spent  several  months,  and  under  the  guidance  of  M. 
de  Charpentier  gradually  learned  to  understand  these 
remarkable  phenomena."  These  plain  words  cannot 
leave  any  doubt  as  to  the  fact  that  Agassiz  became 
converted  to  the  glacial  theory  by  the  teaching  of  de 
Charpentier.  Schimper,  who  did  not  leave  Bex  with 
Agassiz  at  the  beginning  of  November,  but  accepted 
the  hospitality  tendered  to  him  by  de  Charpentier,  was 
not  with  Agassiz  when  he  made  his  observations  on 
the  polished  and  scratched  rocks  and  boulders  round 
Neuchatel.  After  lingering  several  weeks  at  de  Charpen- 
tier's  hospitable  and  generous  house,  Schimper  rejoined 
Agassiz  at  Neuchatel  as  his  guest,  as  he  had  been  at  Bex 
and  formerly  at  Munich.  Of  course,  being  constantly 
together,  Agassiz  and  Schimper  carried  on  a  continual 
exchange  of  views  on  the  Ice-age.     During  the  winter 


1836-37-]  KARL  SCHIMPER.  87 

of  1836-37,  Agassiz  gave  a  public  lecture  at  Neuchatel 
on  the  subject.  He  was  continually  haunted  by  his 
thoughts  on  old  glaciers  ;  and  when  the  Helvetic  Soci- 
ety of  Natural  Sciences,  of  which  he  had  been  elected 
president,  met  at  Neuchatel  on  the  24th  of  July,  1837,  he 
wrote  during  the  night  previous  his  famous  "  Discours 
d'ouverture."  In  it  Agassiz  most  frankly  acknowledges 
that  his  explanation  of  the  glacial  epoch  "  est  le  resul- 
tat  de  la  combinaison  de  mes  idees  et  de  celles  de 
M.  Schimper."  All  these  explanations  are  necessary, 
in  order  to  show  exactly  how  Schimper  became  involved 
in  the  question,  and  how  unjust  are  the  accusations 
of  plagiarism  launched  against  Agassiz  by  Schimper 
himself  and  by  Dr.  Otto  Vogel,  in  the  "  Allgemeine 
Zeitung "  of  Augsburg.  Agassiz's  good  heart  and 
constant  readiness  to  give  impulse  to  new  ideas  were 
interpreted  in  a  manner  not  exactly  creditable. 

But  before  we  come  to  the  delivery  of  his  "  Discours," 
let  us  see  how  friendly  he  was  to  Schimper.  As  soon 
as  Schimper  became  a  guest  in  Agassiz's  apartment 
at  Neuchatel,  Agassiz  introduced  him  to  everybody 
and  made  the  most  of  him.  At  the  meetings  of  the 
Neuchatel  Society  of  Natural  Sciences,  Schimper  com- 
municated in  February,  March,  and  April,  1837,  ms 
observations  on  the  morphology  of  plants,  showing  the 
laws  of  development  of  leaves  round  the  axes  ;  and  also 
his  new  ideas  on  the  development  of  the  animal  king- 
dom before  the  appearance  of  man.  During  the  five 
years  which  had  passed  since  their  last  meeting  at 
Carlsruhe  in  1832,  Schimper  had  under-one  changes 
which  were  not  to   his  advantage.     He   had   failed  to 


88  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

draw  a  line  sharply  separating  his  student  life  from  his 
life  as  privatdocent  and  instructor  at  the  Munich  Uni- 
versity. His  appetite,  on  the  contrary,  had  greatly  de- 
veloped, and  was  almost  beyond  his  control.  However, 
the  society  of  de  Charpentier  at  Bex  and  of  Agassiz 
at  Bex  and  Neuchatel  was  beneficial  to  him ;  and  he 
never  was  so  brilliant  and  attractive. 

On  the  15th  of  February,  1837,  which  was  the  anniver- 
sary of  his  birth,  Schimper  was  in  particularly  excellent 
spirits.  That  evening  he  first  made  two  verbal  communi- 
cations before  the  Natural  History  Society  on  botanic 
morphology,  promising  to  write  them  for  the  "  Bulletin," 

—  a  promise  which,  by  the  way,  was  never  carried 
into  effect,  like  all  Schimper's  promises, — and  then  he 
distributed  to  Agassiz  and  all  the  friends  there  a  small 
piece  of  poetry,  half-scientific,  half-humorous,  in  which, 
for  the  first  time,  the  word  Eiszeit  (glacial  epoch),  so 
celebrated  since,  was  printed.  Schimper  had  the  honour 
to  be  the  god-father  of  a  great  geologic  period,  for  it 
was  certainly  he  who  first  coined  and  used  the  word. 
Agassiz  always  acknowledged  his  priority  ;  and  on  the 
25th  of  July,  before  the  geological  section  of  the  Hel- 
vetic Society,  he  read  a  letter  from  Schimper,  addressed 
to  him  under  the  title  of  "  Ueber  die  Eiszeit,"  in  which 
the  word  Eiszeit  is  written  in  italics,  and  so  printed  on 
p.  38  of  the  "  Actes  de  la  Societe  Helvetique,"  Neuchatel, 

1837- 

But  poor  Schimper   soon   fell  again  into  bad  habits 

after  leaving  Agassiz,  and  the  brilliant  spirit,  the  rare 

genius,  —  for  a  man  of  genius  Schimper  certainly  was, 

—  became    more    and    more   obscured,    until   he   disap- 


1836-37-]  DISCO C/KS  DE  NEUCHATEL.  89 

peared  entirely,  without  leaving  even  a  good  manuscript 
account  of  his  great  discovery  on  the  morphology  of 
plants. 

The  "  Discours  de  Neuchatel '  is  the  starting-point 
of  all  that  has  been  written  on  the  "  Ice-age."  Quoted 
often,  it  is,  however,  very  little  known,  because  it  never 
was  printed  separately  and  also  because  the  number  of 
copies  of  the  small  volume  of  the  "  Actes  de  la  Societe 
Helvetique  reunie  a  Neuchatel '  was  extremely  limited. 
As  it  occupies  such  an  important  place  in  the  history  of 
the  progress  of  geology,  and  also  in  the  life  of  Agassiz, 
I  think  it  is  proper  to  reproduce  it  in  extenso  and  in 
French,  as  it  was  delivered. 

Discours  prononce  a  V  ouverture  des  seances  de  la 
Societe  Helvetique  des  sciences  naturelles,  a  iVcnc/idtel, 
le  24  Juillet,    1837,  par  L.  Agassiz,  President. 

Messieurs,  tres  chers  amis  et  confederes  : 

Depuis  longtemps  les  membres  de  la  section  neuchateloise  de 
notre  societe  desiraient  avec  impatience  voir  arriver  le  moment  ou 
ils  pourraient  inviter  leurs  confreres  de  toute  la  Suisse  a  se  reunir 
chez  eux.  Des  circonstances  independantes  de  leur  volonte,  et 
particulierement  la  construction  du  nouvel  edifice  dans  lequel  nous 
sommes  reunis  et  qui  devait  recevoir  tout  ce  que  la  ville  possede  de 
collections  scientifiques,  les  ont  forces  a.  decliner  Thonneur  d'acceuil- 
lir  a  Neuchatel  la  Societe  Helvetique  des  sciences  naturelles,  jus- 
qu'a.  ce  qu'ils  pussent  le  faire  convenablement  et  mettre  sous  ses 
yeux  au  moins  une  partie  des  collections.  Encore  aujourd'hui, 
malgre  toute  Tactivite  qu'y  a  mise  Tinfatigable  Directeur  de  notre 
Musee,  il  n'y  a  qu'une  faible  partie  des  collections  qui  soient 
rangees  ;  c'est  meme  a  la  hate  qu'elles  ont  etc  deposees  dans  le 
local  qui  doit  les  recevoir  et  que  les  ouvriers  n'ont  pas  encore  quittc. 
Nous  re'clamons  done  toute  votre  indulgence  pour  ce  que  vous  ver- 
rez.     Mais  du  moins,  comptez  sur  le  plaisir  que  nous  avons  a  vous 


go  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.   y. 

recevoir  ici,  et  soyez  persuades  que  nous  attachons  un  grand  prix  a 
vous  voir  chez  nous.  Cest  du  fond  du  coeur  que  je  vous  dis  a  tous  : 
Soyez  les  bien-venus. 

A  pareil  jour  tout  nous  invite  a  rechercher  quel  est  le  lien  qui 
unit  les  sciences  dont  s'occupe  notre  Societe.  Je  ne  crois  pas  me 
tromper  en  affirmant  qu'une  grande  pensee  domine  tous  les  travaux 
qui  tendent  aujourd'hui  a  en  etendre  les  limites.  Cest  l'idee  d*un 
developpement  progressif  dans  tout  ce  qui  existe,  dime  metamor- 
phose a  travers  differens  etats  dependant  les  uns  des  autres,  l'ide'e 
d'une  creation  intelligible,  dont  notre  tache  est  de  saisir  la  liaison 
dans  tous  ses  phenomenes.1  Ainsi  voyez  TAstronomie,  qui  s'occupe 
maintenant  de  la  formation  des  corps  celestes  ;  la  Chimie,  qui  etudie 
les  differens  modes  d'action  des  corps  les  uns  sur  les  autres  ;  la 
Physique,  qui  veut  approfondir  la  nature  des  forces  dont  elle  connait 
Taction ;  THistoire  Naturelle,  qui  poursuit  les  phases  de  la  vie  de 
chaque  etre  ;  la  Geologie  enfin,  qui  se  hasarde  a.  embrasser  l'histoire 
de  la  terre,  a  en  dechiffrer  merae  les  pages  les  plus  anciennes,  et 
a  la  representer  comme  un  grand  tout,  dont  les  revolutions  ont 
toujours  tendu  vers  le  meme  but. 

De  tous  ces  progres,  sans  doute,  il  sortira  un  jour  quelque  chose 
de  grand,  de  vraiment  humain,  qui  fera  rentrer  Petude  des  sciences 
naturelles  bien  plus  directement  dans  le  domaine  de  la  vie  habituelle 
de  Phomme,  que  les  avantages  memes  fournis  a  l'industrie  et  aux 
arts  par  les  resultats  obtenus  dans  les  sciences,  quelques  immenses 
qu'aient  ete  ces  derniers. 

Notre  Societe  n'est  point  restee  etrangere  a.  ce  grand  mouve- 
ment ;  les  noms  de  ses  membres  figurent  honorablement  a.  cote  des 
coryphees  de  la  science  qui  ont  daigne  s'associer  a  nos  travaux.  La 
reunion  d'aujourd'hui,  mieux  qu'aucune  autre  peut-etre,  prouverait 
que  mon  assertion  n'est  point  exageree.  Vous  le  savez,  Messieurs, 
c'est  notre  petite  societe  qui  a  servi  de  modele  a  ces  vastes  associa- 
tions dont  TAllemagne,  TAngleterre,  et  la  France  se  glorifient  a 

1  If  Agassiz  had  replaced  the  words  "developpement  progressif"  and 
"metamorphose  "  by  evolution,  what  a  splendid  Darwinian  paragraph  he 
would  have  given  there,  in  1837,  twenty-two  years  before  the  publication 
of  the  "Origin  of  Species."— J.  M. 


1836-37-]  P /SCOURS  DE    NEUCHATEL.  91 

tant  de  titres ;  et  si  lcs  travaux  qu'elle  a  enterpris  out  paru  moins 
brillans,  a  cote  de  ceux  de  50016163  plus  vastes,  elle  n'en  a  pas 
moins  donne  Pelan,  a  plus  dune  reprise. 

Tout  recemment  encore,  deux  de  nos  collegues  ont  souleve'  par 
leurs  recherches  des  discussions  d'une  haute  porte'e,  et  dont  les 
suites  auront  du  retentissement.  La  nature  de  la  localite  ou  nous 
sommes  reunis  nrengage  a  vous  entretenir  de  nouveau  d\in  sujet  qui. 
je  crois,  trouve  sa  solution  dans  Texamen  des  pentes  de  notre  Jura. 
Je  veux  parler  des  glaciers,  des  moraines,  et  des  blocs  erratiques. 

Tout  le  monde,  en  Suisse,  connait  les  glaciers  et  sait  que  leurs 
bords  sont  entoures  de  digues  de  blocs  arrondis  qu'on  appelle  des 
7noraines,  et  qui  sont  continuellement  poussees  en  avant  ou  abandon- 
nees  par  les  glaciers  a  mesure  qu'ils  avancent  ou  qirils  se  retirent. 
Les  habitans  du  Jura  surtout  sont  familiers  avec  un  autre  pheno- 
mene  qui  est  tres  frappant  dans  nos  montagnes,  je  veux  parler  des 
blocs  erratiques  ou  de  ces  masses  de  granit  et  d'autres  roches  primi- 
tives qui  sont  eparses  principalement  sur  les  pentes  de  notre  Jura. 
Ce  que  tout  le  monde  ne  sait  cependant  pas,  e'est  qu'il  existe  encore 
d'autres  moraines  que  celles  qui  cement  de  nos  jours  les  glaciers. 
Ce  sont  MM.  Venetz  et  de  Charpentier,  qui  les  ont  fait  connaitre 
les  premiers.  On  les  observe  principalement  dans  les  vallees  inte- 
rieures  des  Alpes.  Mais  il  est  un  cote  de  cette  question  qui  doit  etre 
conteste,  e'est  la  liaison  que  Ton  a  cherche  a  etablir  entre  les  blocs 
erratiques  et  les  glaciers  que  cernaient  les  grandes  moraines  dont  on 
retrouve  encore  des  traces  sur  les  rives  septentrionales  du  lac  de 
Geneve.  C'est  de  ce  dernier  point  que  j'ai  l'intention  de  vous  entre- 
tenir en  particulier. 

Les  fails  observes  par  MM.  Venetz  et  de  Charpentier  sont  cepen- 
dant definitivement  acquis  a  la  science ;  aussi  importe-t-il  d'en  pro- 
clamer  hautement  Pexactitude ;  car  de  la  depend  naturellement  la 
validite  de  toutes  les  consequences  que  Ton  peut  en  tirer.1 

A  des  distances  plus  ou  moins  considerables  des  glaciers  actuels, 
on  remarque  en  efFet  a  differentes  hauteurs  des  moraines  parfaite- 
ment  semblables  a  celles  qui  cement  encore  les  glaciers.     Elles  sont 

1  It  is  impossible  to  say  more  clearly,  or  with  more  force,  that  Messrs. 
Venetz  and  de  Charpentier  founded  the  glacial  doctrine.     J.  M. 


92  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

egalement  concentriques  et  forment  des  digues  qui  suivent  les  ine- 
galites  des  flancs  des  vallees.  On  en  voit  partout  plusieurs  etages, 
dont  les  plus  eleves  se  trouvent  a  quelques  cents  pieds  au-dessus  du 
fond  des  vallees  superieures  des  Alpes  ou  il  n"y  a  plus  de  glaciers. 
Mais  en  descendant  dans  les  vallees  inferieures,  on  en  trouve  succes- 
sivement  a  douze  ou  quinze  cents  pieds  et  meme  a  plus  de  dix-huit 
cents  pieds  de  hauteur ;  il  y  en  a  encore  d'assez  distinctes  a.  deux 
mille  pieds  au-dessus  du  lit  du  Rhone,  dans  les  environs  de  St. 
Maurice  en  Valais.  On  peut  les  poursuivre  jusque  sur  les  rives  du 
lac  de  Geneve.  II  en  existe  encore  de  tres-elevees  au-dessus  de 
Vevey  et  dans  les  environs  de  Lausanne,  qui  correspondent  a.  celles 
de  la  rive  meridionale  du  lac. 

Si  on  ne  les  a  generalement  pas  remarquees,  c'est  qu'elles  sont  beau- 
coup  au-dessus  des  routes  frequentees,  et  que  celles  des  parties  infe- 
rieures des  vallees  ont  generalement  ete  disloque'es  par  les  torrens. 

II  est  toujours  facile  de  distinguer  ces  anciennes  moraines  des 
digues  formees  par  le  debordement  des  eaux  et  des  talus  plus  ou 
moins  etendus,  resultant  des  avalanches.  Les  digues  sont  tres-irre'- 
gulieres  et  s'etendent  a  de  petites  distances,  en  s'aplanissant ;  les 
talus  sont  en  forme  de  cones  tres-aplatis,  de'bouchant  des  vallees  et 
se  perdant  dans  la  plaine ;  tandis  que  les  moraines  sont  des  digues 
triangulares  continues  et  parallel  es  le  long  des  deux  flancs  des  val- 
lees, formees  de  blocs  arrondis  evidemment  triture's,  pour  ainsi  dire 
en  place,  les  uns  contre  les  autres,  comme  cela  a  lieu  sur  le  bord  des 
glaciers  actuels,  qui  s'etendent  dans  de  longues  vallees  etroites.  Les 
blocs  des  avalanches,  au  contraire,  sont  anguleux  ;  ceux  des  digues, 
charries  par  les  eaux,  peuvent  etre  arrondis,  il  est  vrai,  lorsqu'ils  pro- 
viennent  de  moraines  disloquees,  mais  alors  ils  s'etendent  en  nappes 
irregulieres,  et  lorsqu1ils  proviennent  d'avalanches  recentes,  ils  sont 
egalement  anguleux,  a.  moins  qu*ils  ne  rencontrent  dans  leur  trajet 
d'anciennes  moraines  qu'ils  entrainent  et  avec  lesquelles  ils  se 
confondent. 

Pour  se  convaincre  de  Texactitude  de  ces  faits,  il  suffit  de  par- 
courir  la  vallee  de  Chamouni,  en  suivant  les  moraines  les  plus  rap- 
prochees  des  glaciers,  ou  de  s'elever  perpendiculairement  sur  les 
flancs  de  la  vallee  du  Rhone  entre  St.  Maurice  et  Martigny,  sur  la 
rive  gauche  du  Rhone,  au-dessus  de  la  Pissevache  pres  du  hameau 


I836-37-]  DISCOURS  DE  NEUCHATEL.  93 

appelee  Chaux-Fleurie  (Tsau-fria),  ou  vis-a-vis  en  montant  au  village 
de  Morcles  depuis  les  bains  de  Lavey.  Les  de'combres  des  dernieres 
debacles  de  la  Dent  du  Midi,  les  grandes  avalanches  dont  on  voit 
partout  des  traces  et  les  nombreuses  digues  formees  par  le  Rhone, 
feront  d'ailleurs  apprecier  justement  la  difference  qu'il  y  a  entre  ces 
divers  accidens  produits  par  des  causes  si  differentes. 

Les  vallees  laterales  presentent  les  memes  phenomcnes,  comme 
on  peut  le  voir  en  remontant  le  cours  de  PAvencon,  jusqu'au  glacier 
de  Paneyrossaz. 

En  parcourant  ces  vallees,  je  n'ai  pas  ete  moins  frappe  de 
Tapparence  polie  que  presentent  les  rochers  sur  lesquels  les  glaciers 
se  sont  mus ;  apparence  que  Ton  remarque  egalement  dans  toutes 
les  vallees  dont  les  flancs  sont  couronnes  d'anciennes  moraines,  a 
quelque  distance  des  glaciers  actuels  qu'elles  se  trouvent.  Cest 
ainsi  que  les  flancs  de  la  vallee  du  Rhone  sont  entierement  polis 
jusque  sur  les  bords  du  lac  de  Geneve  a.  plus  d'une  journee  des 
glaciers,  partout  ou  la  roche  est  assez  dure  pour  avoir  resiste  aux 
influences  atm  ospheriques. 

L?  explication  que  M.  de  Charpentier  a  donnee  de  ces  faits,  evidem- 
ment  produits  par  de  grandes  masses  de  glaces,  qui  remplissaient 
jadis  le  fond  de  toutes  les  vallees  alpines,  ne  me  semble  cependant 
pas  embrasser  toute  la  question,  et  le  Jura  presente  line  serie  de 
phenomenes  qui  la  menent  plus  loin. 

Pour  mettre  plus  de  liaison  dans  ce  que  j'ai  a.  vous  dire  la-dessus, 
je  vous  entretiendrai  d'abord  des  surfaces  polies  que  Ton  remarque 
sur  toute  la  pente  meridionale  du  Jura  et  que  nos  montagnards 
appellent  des  laves,  comme  nous  Pa  appris  M.  Leopold  de  Buch,  celui 
de  tous  les  geologues  qui  le  premier  a  le  mieux  etudie  le  Jura 
Neuchatelois  et  a  qui  sont  dus  les  plus  grands  travaux  sur  le  sujet 
qui  nous  occupe. 

La  pente  meridionale  du  Jura,  qui  est  en  face  des  Alpes,  presente 
de  ces  laves  jusque  sur  ses  plus  hautes  sommites,  depuis  les  bords 
du  lac  de  Bienne  jusqu'au  dela  d'Orbe  ;  limites  dans  lesquelles  j'ai 
constate  leur  existence.1    Ce  sont  des  surfaces  polies.  completement 

1  Elle  s'etendent  cependant  bien  au-dela,  comme  nous  l'apprend  une  lettre 
de  M.  Schimper,  recue  le  25  Juillet  et  inseree  a  la  page  38  do  res  Actes. 


94  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.    v. 

independantes  de  la  stratification  des  couches  et  de  la  direction 
de  la  chaine  du  Jura ;  elles  s'etendent  sur  toute  la  surface  du  sol, 
suivant  ses  ondulations,  passant  egalement  par  dessus  le  terrain 
neocomien  et  le  terrain  jurassique,  penetrant  dans  les  depressions 
qui  forment  de  petites  vallees,  en  s'elevant  sur  les  cretes  les  plus 
isolees  et  presentant  un  poli  aussi  uni  que  la  surface  d'un  miroir, 
partout  ou  la  roche  a  ete  mise  recemment  a.  decouvert,  c'est-a-dire, 
debarrassee  de  la  terre,  du  gravier  et  du  sable  qui  la  recouvrent 
generalement.  Ces  surfaces  sont  tantot  planes,  tantot  ondule'es, 
souvent  meme  traversers  de  sillons  plus  ou  moins  profonds  et 
sinueux,  ou  de  bosses  longitudinales  tres-arrondies,  mais  qui  ne 
sont  jamais  diriges  dans  le  sens  de  la  pente  de  la  montagne ;  au 
contraire,  comme  les  gibbosites,  ces  sillons  sont  obliques  et  longi- 
tudinaux ;  direction  qui  exclut  tout  idee  d'un  courant  d'eau  comme 
cause  de  ces  erosions.  Un  fait  tres-curieux,  que  Ton  ne  saurait 
non  plus  concilier  avec  Taction  de  l'eau,  c'est  que  ces  polis  sont 
uniformes,  alors  meme  que  la  roche  se  compose  de  fragmens  de 
differente  durete,  et  les  coquilles  qu'elle  contient  sont  tranchees 
comme  dans  des  plaques  de  marbre  polies  artificiellement.  On 
remarque,  en  outre,  sur  les  surfaces  tres-bien  conservees  de  fines 
lignes  semblables  aux  traits  que  pourrait  produire  une  pointe  de  dia- 
mant  sur  du  verre,  et  qui  suivent  en  general  la  direction  des  sillons 
obliques.  Les  localites  les  plus  interessantes  ou  Ton  peut  les 
observer  dans  les  environs  de  Neuchatel,  sont  le  Mail,  du  cote  du 
lac,  a  la  surface  du  terrain  neocomien,  et  le  Plan,  a  Pendroit  ou 
Tancienne  route  joint  la  nouvelle.  Les  plus  remarquables  sont 
cependant  a.  quelque  distance  de  la  ville,  par  exemple,  au-dessus 
du  Landeron,  a.  la  surface  du  portlandien  sur  la  lisiere  des  vignes 
et  de  la  foret,  dans  les  environs  de  St.  Aubin  et  au-dessus  de  Con- 
cise. Dans  quelques  localites  on  remarque  de  larges  excavations 
et  meme  des  especes  de  puits  qui  ne  peuvent  avoir  ete  produits 
que  par  des  cascades  tombant  entre  les  fentes  de  la  glace.  Pour 
quiconque  a  examine  dans  les  Alpes  le  fond  des  anciens  glaciers,  il 
est  evident  que  c'est  la  glace  qui  a  produit  ces  polis,  comme  ceux 
de  la  valine  du  Rhone  dont  il  a  deja  ete  question.  II  est  digne 
de  remarque  que  ces  polis  ne  se  retrouvent  nulle  part  dans  le  fond 
des  petites  vallees  longitudinales  formees  par  les  abruptes  des  dif- 


1836-37]  DISCO URS  DE  NEUCHATEL.  95 

ferentes  ceintures  des  couches  dont  se  composent  nos  chaines,  ni 
sur  Tescarpement  meme  de  ceux  de  ces  abruptes  qui  sont  tournes 
vers  la  montagne,  tandisque  j'en  ai  remarque  sur  plusieurs 
abruptes  tournes  vers  les  Alpes,  par  exemple,  le  long  de  la  route 
neuve  entre  St.  Aubin  et  le  chateau  de  Vauxmarcus.  II  importe 
cgalement  de  signaler  les  differences  qui  existent  entre  ces  laves  et 
d'autres  surfaces  polies  avec  lesquelles  on  ne  saurait  cependant  les 
confondre,  mais  qui  peuvent  leur  ressembler  dans  quelques  circon- 
stances.  Je  veux  parler  des  surfaces  polies  produites  par  les  failles 
011  par  le  glissement  des  couches  les  unes  sur  les  autres.  Les 
premieres  penetrant  verticalement  ou  obliquement  a  travers  plu- 
sieurs couches,  ne  sont  a  decouvert  que  la  ou  Tun  des  cotes  de  la 
roche  en  rupture  s'est  enfonce ;  elles  ne  sont  jamais  a  decouvert 
sur  de  grandes  surfaces  corame  les  laves ;  les  secondes  prcsentent 
quelquefois  des  surfaces  assez  etendues,  lorsque  les  couches  supe- 
rieures  au  glissement  ont  ete  enlevees ;  mais  alors  les  rainures  ou 
les  sillons  produits  par  le  glissement,  sont  dans  le  sens  de  la  pente, 
ce  qui  ne  se  voit  nulle  part  a  la  surface  des  laves.  Les  surfaces 
polies  par  Taction  des  eaux  ont  egalement  un  caractere  particulier, 
soit  qu'elles  aient  ete  produites  par  des  eaux  courantes  ou  par  des 
masses  d'eau  plus  considerables  contenues  dans  un  bassin.  Dans 
le  premier  cas,  ce  sont  des  sillons  sinueux  descendant  toujours,  tan- 
disque les  sillons  et  les  gibbosites  des  laves  montent  et  descendent 
suivant  les  accidens  de  la  roche  polie.  Dans  le  second  cas,  les 
eaux  mues  sur  les  rivages  par  les  vents,  et  poussees  au-dela  de  leur 
niveau  habituel,  rentrant  toujours  en  equilibre,  forment  des  sillons 
inegaux  plus  ou  moins  profonds,  qui  suivent  generalement  la  ligne 
de  plus  grande  pente,  a  moins  que  des  accidens  locaux  ne  leur 
donnent  une  direction  particuliere.  II  en  est  de  memo  lors  de  la 
hausse  et  de  la  baisse  du  lac  au  printemps  et  en  automne.  On  peut 
etudier  toutes  ces  differences  dans  les  environs  de  la  ville,  en  compa- 
rant  les  surfaces  polies  du  Mail  avec  les  erosions  produites  par  le  lac- 
dans  le  prolongement  des  memes  couches,  ou  avec  les  sinuositds 
qui  ont  etc  produites  par  le  Seyon  dans  ses  gorges.  D'ailleurs  les  sur- 
faces polies  par  Taction  de  Teau  ne  sont  jamais  aussi  lisses  que  les 
laves  ou  que  les  surfaces  polies  par  les  glaciers.  Que  Peau  charrie 
du  sable  et  du  limon  ou  non,  les  effets  sont  les  memes,  seulement 


96  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

ils  sont  plus  lents  dans  ce  dernier  cas.  Je  n'ai  pas  encore  eu  occa- 
sion d'etudier  particulierement  les  effets  des  grandes  masses  d1eau 
charriant  des  glaces  ;  je  ne  pense  cependant  pas  qu'elles  produisent 
des  effets  differens  de  ceux  de  Peau  liquide.  Ce  qu'il  y  a  de  certain, 
c'est  que  dans  les  lits  de  nos  rivieres  et  sur  les  bords  de  nos  lacs  ces 
effets  se  confondent ;  et  puis  il  est  evident  que  la  glace  flottante  ne 
saurait  avoir  d'action  sur  le  fond  de  Teau  qui  la  porte.  II  n'y  a  done 
que  les  grandes  masses  de  glaces  se  mouvant  immediatement  sur 
des  masses  solides  qui  puissent  produire  des  effets  semblables  au 
poli  que  Ton  remarque  sur  les  bords  des  glaciers  en  retraite.  Ce 
dernier  phenomene  est  du  reste  parfaitement  semblable  a  celui 
que  presentent  les  laves  du  Jura. 

Par  cette  ressemblance  seule  on  pourrait  deja  etre  porte  a  penser 
que  des  causes  semblables  ont  produit  des  effets  aussi  semblables 
entreux.  Mais  il  est  d'autres  considerations  qui  nous  permettent 
de  lier  plus  directement  ces  deux  phenomenes,  et  qui  forceront,  meme 
ceux  qui  voudraient  y  voir  des  agens  diffe'rens,  a.  les  envisager  sous 
un  seul  et  meme  point  de  vue. 

Nous  avons  vu  des  moraines  jusques  sur  les  bords  du  lac  de  Geneve, 
sur  les  deux  rives  a  la  meme  hauteur ;  nous  avons  par-la  la  certitude 
qu  il  fut  un  temps  ou  le  lac  de  Geneve  etait  gele  jusqu'au  fond,  et 
ou  cette  glace  s'elevait  a  une  hauteur  tres-considerable  au-dessus  de 
son  niveau  actuel. 

Mais  nous  savons  egalement  que  toutes  les  moraines  qui  restent 
en  place  sont  celles  que  les  glaciers  laissent  sur  leurs  bords  en  se 
retirant.  Depuis  Tepoque  done  que  je  viens  de  signaler  et  oil  les 
glaciers  debouchaient  encore  dans  les  vallees  inferieures  de  la  Suisse, 
ils  sont  alles  en  diminuant  et  en  se  vetirant  dans  des  vallees  de  plus 
en  plus  elevees. 

Ici  une  question  se  presente  tout  naturellement.  Ceux  de  ces  glaci- 
ers qui  ont  eu  la  plus  grande  extension,  sont-ils  descendus  du  sommet 
des  Alpes?  ou  bien  y  aurait-il  eu  un  moment  ou  les  glaces  se  seraient 
formees  naturellement  au-dela  des  limites  que  nous  venons  de  leur  re- 
connaitre,  s'etendant  peut-etre  une  fois  jusqu'au  Jura  et  meme  au-dela  ? 

Le  niveau  des  moraines  des  bords  du  lac  Leman,  qui  sont  a.  2500 
pieds  au-dessus  de  la  mer,  et  la  nature  des  surfaces  polies  du  Jura 
semblent  Tindiquer ;    il  suffit  meme  de  marquer  sur  une  carte  de 


1836-37-]  DISCOURS  DE  NEUCHATEL.  97 

nivellement  les  hauteurs  des  moraines  debouchant  dans  les  differentes 
parties  de  la  chaine  des  Alpes,  pour  se  convaincre  que  les  glaces  ont 
une  fois  recouvert  toute  la  plaine  de  la  Suisse  et  atteint  la  pente 
du  Jura.1 

En  effet,  la  difference  de  niveau  entre  Te'levation  des  moraines  des 
bords  du  lac  de  Geneve  aux  environs  de  Vevey  et  sur  la  cote  de 
Savoie,  et  celle  des  surfaces  polies  que  Ton  observe  au-dessus  des 
rivages  du  lac  de  Neuchatel  jusque  sur  le  sommet  de  Chaumont,  est 
telle  que  la  nappe  de  glace  qui  remplissait  Tespace  compris  dans  ces 
limites,  a  pu  avoir  une  certaine  inclinaison,  puisque  le  niveau  du  lac 
de  Neuchatel  n'est  que  de  1344  pieds  au-dessus  de  la  mer,  celui  de 
la  zone  de  Pierre-a-Bot,  le  long  de  laquelle  on  trouve  le  plus  grand 
nombre  de  blocs,  de  2150  pieds  ;  le  sommet  meme  de  Chaumont  n"a 
que  3619  pieds, 

Cela  etant,  nous  sommes  non-seulement  en  droit  d'attribuer  a 
Taction  des  glaces  toutes  ces  surfaces  polies  de  la  pente  du  Jura, 
mais  encore  de  les  envisager  comme  un  indice  assure  de  Tetendue 
plus  considerable  qu'ont  eue  les  glaces  a  une  epoque  plus  reculee, 
tant  dans  le  Jura  que  dans  les  Alpes. 

M.  de  Charpentier  pense  que  ces  glaces  etaint  des  glaciers  qui  se 
sont  formes  sur  le  sommet  des  Alpes  et  qui  sont  descendus  dans 
la  plaine  pour  s'elever  jusqu'a  la  hauteur  ou  on  en  trouve  des  indices, 
poussant  devant  eux  les  blocs  qui  sont  sur  le  Jura.  Mais  un  fait  bien 
frappant  s'oppose  a  cette  explication ;  c'est  que  les  blocs  du  Jura 
sont  generalement  moins  arrondis  et  meme  plus  grands  que  ceux 

1  M.  Rod.  Blanchet,  qui  s'est  aussi  occupe  de  cette  question,  a  fait  des 
lors  la  remarque  que  le  sommet  du  Pelerin  (montagne  qui  domine  Vevey 
en  face  de  Fouverture  du  Valais,  elevee  de  3301  pieds  de  France  au-dessus 
de  la  mer),  compose  de  poudingue  a.  gros  grain,  est  poli  sur  sa  pel 
dans  un  endroit  ou  il  n'y  a  pas  d'eau  capable  de  former  un  petit  ruisseau, 
ni  de  sentier,  ni  aucune  des  causes  polissantes  que  Ton  pourrait  inettre 
en  avan t. 

C'est  done  a  3300  pieds  au  moins  que  Ton  peut  porter  le  niveau  des 
glaces    qui   remplissaient   le    bassin    du   lac   de   Geneve,   dont  la  surface 
n'est  maintenant  qu'a   1145   pieds.     Sur  le  sommet  du    Pelerin   c'est    le 
fond  de  la  grace  dont  le  niveau  etait  de  3300  pieds  au-dessus  de  la  in 
mais  rien  ne  nous  indique  quelle  etait  son  epaisseur  dans  ce  point. 
H 


98  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

que  Ton  trouve  dans  les  moraines  du  bord  des  glaciers  actuels.1  Si 
nos  blocs  avaient  ete  roules  ainsi  au  bord  d'un  glacier  depuis  les 
Alpes  jusqu'au  Jura,  ils  seraient  generalement  plus  ronds,  et  plus 
petits,  et  il  y  aurait  d'immenses  moraines  adossees  au  Jura,  ce  qui 
nVst  pas.2 

Uopinion  generalement  reeue  attribue  le  transport  de  ces  blocs  a 
d'immenses  courans  d'eau  ou  a  des  glaces  flottantes. 

Les  plus  grandes  difficultes  que  presente  cette  maniere  de  voir, 
pour  n'en  indiquer  que  quelques-unes,  sont  d'abord  d'expliquer 
Torigine  de  ces  courans  et  de  la  vitesse  qu*on  doit  leur  attribuer 
pour  qu'ils  aient  pu  transporter  des  masses  aussi  enormes,  si  toute- 
fois  Ton  admet  qu'ils  ont  ete  charries  apres  le  soulevement  des 
Alpes,  comme  tout  semble  Tindiquer.  Car  dans  ce  cas,  ces  courans 
auraient  du  partir  des  cretes  qui  separent  les  vallees,  puisque  le 
phenomene  des  blocs  se  presente  dans  toutes  les  vallees  alpines  et 
sur  les  deux  versans  de  la  chaine,  c'est-a-dire  que  pour  suffire  aux 
exigences  des  faits,  ils  auraient  du  jaillir  de  toutes  ces  cretes3  avec 
assez  d'impetuosite  pour  ne  plus  laisser  tomber  les  blocs  au-dessous 
du  niveau  ou  ils  se  trouvent  dans  le  Jura  et  dans  les  vallees  alpines 
ou  ils  n'y  a  plus  de  glaciers,  puis  qu'on  nie  meme  encore  Texistence 

1  Ces  faits  ne  s'accordent  point  du  tout  avec  ceux  que  M.  Elie  de  Beau- 
mont a  decrits  pour  la  vallee  de  la  Durance. 

2  Je  ne  me  suis  point  attache  a  decrire  la  distribution  des  blocs  erratiques 
sur  les  pentes  du  Jura,  parce  qu'elle  est  assez  connue  depuis  la  publication 
des  recherches  de  MM.  Leop.  de  Buch,  Escher  de  la  Linth,  de  Luc,  sur  ce 
sujet.  Je  ferai  seulement  remarquer  que  leur  accumulation  sur  differens 
points  ne  s'accorde  pas  avec  les  theories  que  Ton  a  avancees  pour  expli- 
quer  leur  transport.  Ainsi  les  plus  grandes  accumulations  que  j'en  con- 
naisse  se  trouvent  a  peu  de  distance  l'une  de  l'autre  pres  du  sommet  du 
mont  Auber,  et  dans  le  fond  de  Noiraigue,  a  des  niveaux  tres-differens,  et 
qui  ne  sont  point  sur  une  ligne  ascendante  dont  le  sommet  serait  a.  Chas- 
seron.  Au  contraire,  c'est  en  general  sur  le  bord  des  differens  gradins  du 
Jura  qu'on  en  voit  le  plus,  et  en  particulier  sur  la  lisiere  que  forme  tout  le 
long  du  Jura  Neuchatelois,  la  depression  des  couches  superieures  du  port- 
landien,  entre  le  chateau  de  la  Neuveville,  Fontaine-Andre,  Pierre-a-Bot, 
Troirod,  Chatillon,  Fresens,  Mutruz,  etc. 

3  Les  systemes  de  barrage  et  de  debacles  que  Ton  pourrait  imaginer, 
n'expliqueraient  jamais  des  faits  communs  a  tant  de  vallees  a.  la  fois. 


i836"37-]  DISCOURS  DE  NEUCHATEL.  99 

des  grandes  moraines,  pour  attribuer  aussi  la  deposition  de  ces 
blocs  aux  memes  courans.  Mais  comment  des  cours  d'eau  ayant 
a  peine  quelques  lieues  de  long  (je  parle  ici  des  vallees  latc'rales 
debouchant  dans  les  vallees  principales)  auraient-ils  maintenu  de 
grands  blocs  a  plus  de  mille  pieds  de  hauteur?  D'ailleurs  le  fait 
que  les  blocs  des  dififerentes  vallees  ne  sont  pas  les  memes  et  qu'ils  se 
repandent  en  cventail  a  une  certaine  distance  des  Alpes,  exclut  cette 
idee  d'une  extreme  vitesse  qu'on  a  voulu  accorder  aux  courans, 
uniquement  pour  expliquer  le  transport  des  blocs,  sans  penser  qu'ils 
auraient  du  produire  en  merae  temps  d'autres  effets  dont  on  ne 
retrouve  aucune  trace.  Ce  fait  exclut  a  plus  forte  raison  Fidded'-un 
grand  courant  diluvien  passant  sur  toute  la  Suisse,  quelque  direc- 
tion qu'on  veuille  lui  assigner.  Si  c'est  avant  le  soulevement  des 
Alpes  quon  suppose  que  le  phenomene  a  eu  lieu,  je  demande  com- 
ment il  se  fait  que  les  lignes  que  ces  blocs  forment  dans  les  Alpes 
n'ont  pas  ete  disloquees  par  le  soulevement?  car  clans  ce  cas  les 
digues  continues  et  paralleles  de  blocs  que  Ton  voit  sur  les  deux 
flancs  de  toutes  les  vallees  alpines  et  qui  en  suivent  tous  les  acci- 
dens,  quelles  que  soient  leur  direction  et  leurs  sinuosites,  restent 
inexplicables,  Teau  suivant  un  cours  rectiligne  dans  les  differentes 
anfractuosites  du  lit  qu'elle  parcourt,  tandis  que  la  glace  seule 
agit  avec  la  merae  energie  sur  tous  les  points  des  bassins  qu'elle 
remplit. 

Les  objections  que  Ton  peut  faire  contre  la  theorie  des  courans 
sont  toutes  applicables  jusqu'a.  un  certain  point  a  la  theorie  de  M. 
Lyell,  d'un  charriage  par  des  glaces  flottantes.  On  peut  bien  faire 
arriver  par  des  radeaux  de  glaces  des  blocs  anguleux  jusque  sur  le 
Jura;  mais  les  autres  particularites  de  ce  grand  phenomene  ne 
s'expliquent  pas  plus  par  la,  qu'a  Taide  des  courans,  dut-on  merae 
admettre  avec  M.  Elie  de  Beaumont  que  leur  eau  provenait  de  la 
fonte  des  glaciers. 

Une  autre  objection  d'un  tres -grand  poids  faite  a  cette  tlu'orie 
par  M.  Schimper,  e'est  Tetat  actuel  des  lacs  et  de  la  grande  valine 
suisses.  Si  les  blocs  ont  etc  Charlie's  par  des  courans  depuis  les 
Alpes  an  Jura,  ces  courans  ont  naturellement  passe*  par  dessus  li- 
lacs et  les  vallees  longitudinales  et  transversales  qui  se  trouvent 
entre   deux.     Comment  se  fait-il  alors  que  ces  lacs  et   ces  \alK 


ioo  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

n'ont  point  ete  combles?  et  comment  expliquer  les  escarpemens 
anguleux  de  leurs  bords? 

Quelque  violens,  quelque  rapides,  quelque  profonds  que  Ton  sup- 
pose ces  courans,  eussent-ils  meme,  contre  toutes  les  lois  de  la 
physique,  porte  des  blocs  de  granit  d'environ  50,000  pieds  cubes, 
comme  celui  de  Pierre-a-Bot,  ils  ont  du  se  ralentir  une  fois,  et  alors 
les  dernieres  trainees  auraient  encore  du  combler  quelques-unes  de  ces 
inegalites.     Cependant  on  voit  peu  de  blocs  entre  les  Alpes  et  le  Jura. 

Si  dans  une  autre  hypothese  on  les  fait  marcher  lentement  sur 
des  masses  de  limon  et  de  decombres  assez  epaisses  pour  les  porter, 
comment  se  fait-il  que  ces  masses  du  moins  n'ont  pas  comble  toutes 
les  inegalites  de  la  Suisse?  Les  blocs  seuls  se  seraient-ils  peut-etre 
deposes  apres  etre  arrive's  sur  le  Jura,  et  les  masses  qui  avaient  pu 
les  apporter  jusques  la  se  seraient-elles  alors  ecoulees  pour  les  laisser 
en  place? 

Dautres  considerations  s'opposent  encore  a  l'admission  de  tous 
ces  courans. 

Les  blocs  erratiques  du  Jura  reposent  partout  sur  des  surfaces 
polies,  a  moins  qu'ils  n'aient  ete  pousses  au-dela  des  cretes  de  nos 
montagnes,  et  qu'ils  ne  soient  tombes  dans  le  fond  des  vallees  longi- 
tudinales,  comme  on  le  voit  dans  toute  la  vallee  du  Creux-du-Vent. 
Mais  ce  n'est  pas  immediatement  sur  les  surfaces  polies  qu'ils  sont 
gisant.  Partout  ou  les  cailloux  roules  qui  accompagnent  les  grands 
blocs  n'ont  pas  ete  remanies  par  des  influences  posterieures,  on 
remarque  que  les  petits  blocs,  des  galets  de  differente  grandeur, 
forment  une  couche  de  quelques  pouces  et  quelquefois  meme  de 
plusieurs  pieds,  sur  laquelle  les  grands  blocs  anguleux  reposent. 
Ces  cailloux  sont  de  plus  tres-arrondis,  meme  polis  et  entasses  de 
maniere  a  ce  que  les  plus  gros  soient  dessus  les  plus  petits  qui 
passent  souvent  a  un  fin  sable  au  fond,  immediatement  sur  les 
surfaces  polies.  Cet  ordre  de  superposition,  qui  est  constant, 
s'oppose  a  toute  idee  d\in  charriage  par  des  courans ;  car  dans  ce 
dernier  cas,  l'ordre  de  superposition  des  cailloux  arrondis  serait 
inverse.  La  presence  dun  fin  sable  a  la  surface  des  roches  polies, 
prouve  en  outre  qu'aucune  cause  puissante  n'a  agi,  ou  qu'aucune 
catastrophe  importante  n'a  atteint  la  surface  du  Jura,  depuis  l'epoque 
du  transport  de  ces  roches  alpines,  ou  en  d'autres  termes,  que  les 


1836-37]  IUSCOURS  DE    NEUCHATEL.  ior 

surfaces  polies  lors  du  transport  des  blocs  ti'onl  pas  etc  disloqu 
depuis.  Mais  comme  ccs  surfaces  forment  en  grande  partie  la  rive 
septentrionale  des  lacs  de  Neuchatel  et  de  Bienne,  elles  prouvent, 
pour  eux  du  moins,  que  les  lacs  suisses  existaient  deja. ;  et  la  con- 
tinuity des  moraines  sur  les  deux  rives  du  lac  de  Geneve,  prouve  que 
ce  bassin  aussi  est  anterieur  au  transport  des  blocs,  puisqu'il  a  pre- 
cede la  formation  des  moraines,  comme  on  le  verra  bientot. 

En  considerant  la  liaison  intime  des  differens  faits  qui  viennent 
d'etre  decrits,  il  est  Evident  que  toute  explication  qui  ne  rendra  pas 
compte  en  meme  temps  du  poli  de  la  surface  du  sol,  de  la  superposi- 
tion et  de  la  forme  arrondie  des  cailloux  et  du  sable  qui  reposent 
immediatement  au-dessus  des  surfaces  lisses,  et  de  la  forme  angu- 
leuse  des  grands  blocs  superficiels,  est  une  explication  inadmis- 
sible pour  les  blocs  erratiques  du  Jura ;  et  e'est  le  cas  de  toutes 
les  hypotheses  sur  le  transport  des  blocs  que  je  connais. 

Voici  quelle  est  l'explication  de  tous  ces  phenomenes  que  je  crois 
maintenant  la  plus  plausible.  Elle  est  le  resultat  de  la  combinaison 
de  mes  idees  et  de  celles  de  M.  Schimper  sur  ce  sujet.  En  effleurant 
plusieurs  questions  generates  qui  s'y  rattachent,  pour  chercher  a 
Fetablir,  je  n'ai  point  l'intention  de  les  traiter  a.  fond  maintenant. 
Je  veux  simplement  faire  voir  par  la  que  le  sujet  qui  nous  occupe 
touche  aux  plus  grandes  questions  de  la  geologic 

L'etude  des  fossiles  porte  depuis  quelque  temps  des  fruits  bien 
inattendus,  surtout  depuis  qu'elle  a  pris  un  caractere  physiologique, 
e'est-a-dire  depuis  que  Ton  a  entrevu  qu7il  existe  un  deVeloppement 
progressif  dans  l'ensemble  des  etres  organises  qui  ont  vdcu  sur  la 
terre,  et  que  Ton  a  reconnu  des  epoques  de  renouvellement  dans  leur 
ensemble.  Ceux  qui  ont  compris  ce  progres  ne  doivent  pas  craindre 
maintenant  d'en  poursuivre  les  consequences  jusques  dans  leurs 
dernieres  limites,  et  l'idee  dime  diminution  uniforme  et  constante 
de  la  temperature  de  la  terre,  telle  qu'elle  est  aclmise,  est  tellement 
contraire  a.  toute  notion  physiologique,  qu'il  faut  la  repousser  haute- 
ment  pour  faire  place  a  celle  d'une  diminution  de  temperature  acci- 
dentee  en  rapport  avec  le  developpement  des  etres  organises  qui 
ont  paru  et  disparu  les  uns  a  la  suite  des  autres  a  des  epoques 
determinees,  se  maintenant  a  une  moyenne  particuliere  pendant 
une  dpoque  donnee.  et  diminuant  a  des  epoques  fixes. 


io2  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

Comme  lc  developpcment  cle  la  vie  individuelle  est  toujours  accom- 
pagne  de  celui  de  la  chaleur,  que  sa  duree  etablit  un  certain  equilibre 
plus  ou  moins  durable,  et  que  sa  fin  produit  un  froid  glacial,  je  ne 
crois  done  pas  sortir  des  consequences  que  les  faits  permettent  de 
deduire.  en  admettant  que  sur  la  terre  les  choses  se  sont  passees  de 
la  meme  maniere  :  que  la  terre.  en  se  formant,  a  acquis  une  certaine 
temperature  tres-elevee,  qui  est  allee  en  diminuant  a  travers  les 
differentes  formations  geologiques  ;  que  pendant  la  duree  de  chacune 
d'elles,  la  temperature  n'a  pas  ete  plus  variable  que  celle  de  notre 
globe  depuis  qu'il  est  habite  par  les  etres  qui  s'y  trouvent,  mais  que 
e'est  aux  epoques  de  disparition,  de  ses  habitans  qu*a  eu  lieu  la 
chute  de  la  temperature,  et  que  cette  chute  a  ete  au-dessous  de  la 
temperature  qui  signale  Tepoque  suivante  et  qui  s'est  relevee  avec  le 
developpement  des  etres  apparaissant  nouvellement. 

Si  cette  maniere  de  voir  est  vraie,  et  la  facilite  avec  laquelle  elle 
explique  tant  de  phenomenes  inexplicables  jusqu'ici  me  fait  penser 
qifelle  Test ;  si  cette  maniere  de  voir,  dis-je,  est  vraie,  il  faut  qu'il  y 
ait  eu  a  Tepoque  qui  a  precede  le  soulevement  des  Alpes  et  lappari- 
tion  des  etres  vivant  maintenant,  une  chute  de  la  temperature  bien  au- 
dessous  de  ce  quelle  est  de  nos  jours.  Et  e'est  a  cette  chute  de  la 
temperature  qu'il  faut  attribuer  la  formation  des  immenses  masses 
de  glace  qui  ont  du  recouvrir  la  terre  partout  ou  Ton  trouve  des 
blocs  erratiques  avec  des  roches  polies  comme  les  notres.  Cest 
sans  doute  aussi  ce  grand  froid  qui  a  enseveli  les  Mammouths  de 
Siberie  dans  les  glaces,  congele  tous  nos  lacs,  et  entasse  de  la  glace 
jusqu'au  niveau  des  faites  de  notre  Jura  qui  existaient  avant  le 
soulevement  des  Alpes. 

Cette  accumulation  de  glace  au-dessus  de  tous  les  bassins  hydro- 
graphiques  de  la  Suisse  se  concoit  aisement  quand  on  pense  que  les 
lacs  une  fois  geles  jusqivau  niveau  de  leurs  debouches,  les  eaux 
courantes  ne  s'ecoulant  plus,  et  celles  du  ciel  accrues  par  les  vapeurs 
des  regions  meridionales  qui,  dans  des  circonstances  pareilles 
devaient  se  precipiter  abondamment  vers  le  Nord,  en  ont  rapide- 
ment  augmente  Tetendue  et  rehausse  le  niveau  jusqu'a  la  hauteur 
qui  a  ete  constatee  par  les  faits  deja  enonces.  L'hiver  de  la  Siberie 
s'etait  etabli  pour  un  temps  sur  une  terre  jadis  couverte  d'une  riche 
vegetation  et  peuplee  de  grands  mammiferes,  dont  les  semblables 


1836-37-]  DISCOURS  DE  NEUCHATEL.  103 

habitent  cle  110s  jours  les  chaudes  regions  de  Plnde  et  de  PAfrique. 
La  mort  avait  enveloppe  toute  la  nature  clans  un  linceul,  et  le  fioid 
arrive  a.  son  plus  haut  degrc',  donnait  a  cette  masse  de  glace,  au 
maximum  de  tension,  la  plus  grande  durete  qifelle  puisse  acquerir. 
Lorsqu'on  a  ete  frequemment  temoin  de  la  congelation  d'un  lac,  on 
sait  combien  la  glace  est  resistante  dans  cet  etat,  et  a  quelle  immense 
distance  des  corps  durs  jetes  a  sa  surface  peuvent  y  glisser  par  suite 
meme  d'une  faible  impulsion. 

L'apparition  des  Alpes,  resultat  du  plus  grand  des  cataclysmes 
qui  ont  modifie  le  relief  de  notre  terre,  a  done  trouve  sa  surface 
couverte  de  glace,  au  moins  depuis  le  pole  Nord,  jusque  vers  les 
bords  de  la  Mediterrannee  et  de  la  mer  Caspienne.  Ce  soulevement, 
en  rehaussant,  brisant,  fendillant  de  mille  manieres  les  roches  dont 
se  compose  le  massif  qui  forme  maintenant  les  Alpes,  a  egalement 
souleve  les  glaces  qui  le  recouvraient ;  et  les  debris  detaches  de 
tant  de  fractures  et  de  ruptures  profondes  se  repandant  naturelle- 
ment  sur  la  surface  inclinee  de  la  masse  de  glace  appuyee  contre 
elles,  ont  glisse  sur  sa  pente  jusqu'aux  points  ou  ils  se  sont  arretes, 
sans  s'arrondir,  puis  qu'ils  n'eprouvaient  aucun  frottement  les  uns 
contre  les  autres  et  qu'en  se  heurtant  ils  se  repoussaient  facilement 
sur  une  pente  aussi  lisse ;  ou  bien,  apres  s'etre  arretes,  ils  ont  ete 
portes  jusques  sur  les  bords  ou  dans  les  fentes  de  cette  grande  nappe 
de  glace,  par  Taction  particuliere  et  les  mouvemens  propres  a.  Teau 
congelee,  lorsqu'elle  subit  les  efifets  des  changemens  de  temperature, 
de  la  meme  maniere  que  les  blocs  de  rocher  tombes  sur  des  glaciers 
sont  pousses  sur  leurs  bords,  par  suite  des  mouvemens  continuels 
qu'eprouve  leur  glace  en  se  ramollissant  et  en  se  congelant  alterna- 
tivement  aux  diflferentes  heures  de  la  journee  et  dans  les  dilTerentes 
saisons.  Ces  efifets  devraient  etre  decrits  en  detail,  mais  comme  ils 
sont  en  partie  cpnnus,  je  ne  my  arrete  pas.1  Je  me  borne  a  dire 
que  la  puissance  d'action  qui  en  resulte  pour  la  glace  est  immense  ; 
car  ces  masses  se  mouvant  continuellement  sur  elles-memes  et  sur 
le  sol,  broient  et  arrondissent  tout  ce  qui  y  est  mobile,  et  polissent 
les  surfaces  solides  sur  lesquelles  elles   reposent,  en   meme  temps 

1  M.  Schimper  a  fait  un  beau  travail  sur  les  efFets  de  la  glace,  auquel  je 
renverrais  mes  lecteurs  s'il  etait  public. 


io4  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

• 

que  leurs  bords  poussent  devant  eux  tout  ce  qu'ils  rencontrent,  avec 
une  force  irresistible.  Cest  a  ces  mouvemens  qu'il  faut  attribuer  la 
superposition  etrange  des  cailloux  roules  et  du  sable,  qui  reposent 
immediatement  sur  les  surfaces  polies  ;  et  c'est  sans  doute  a  la  pres- 
sion  de  ce  sable  sur  les  surfaces  polies  que  sont  dues  les  fines  lignes 
qui  s"y  trouvent  gravees,  et  qui  n'existeraient  pas  si  le  sable  avait 
etc  mu  par  un  courant  d'eau  :  car  ni  nos  torrens,  ni  Teau  fortement 
agitee  de  nos  lacs,  ne  produisent  rien  de  semblables  sur  les  memes 
roches.  Ouant  a  la  direction  longitudinale  de  ces  fines  lignes  et 
des  sillons  que  Ton  remarque  sur  les  surfaces  polies,  je  ferai  observer 
qu'elle  a  du  resulter  de  la  plus  grande  facilite  que  devait  avoir  la 
glace  a.  se  dilater  dans  le  sens  de  la  grande  vallee  Suisse,  plutot  que 
transversalement,  encaissee  comme  elle  l'etait  entre  le  Jura  et  les 
Alpes  ;  ce  phenomene  n'avant  du  commencer  qu'avec  le  retrait  de  la 
glace,  a.  une  epoque  oil  les  Alpes  etaient  deja  debout.  Je  ne  mets 
pas  en  doute.  que  la  plupart  des  phenomenes  attribues  a.  de  grands 
courans  diluviens,  et  en  particulier  ceux  que  M.  Seefstrom  a  fait 
connaitre  recemment,  n'aient  ete  produits  par  les  glaces. 

Lors  du  soulevement  des  Alpes,  la  surface  de  la  terre  s'est  rechauffe'e 
de  nouveau,  et  la  chaleur  degagee  de  toutes  parts  a  des-lors  com- 
mence a  faire  fondre  ces  masses  de  glaces,  qui  se  sont  successivement 
retirees  jusques  dans  leurs  limites  actuelles.  Des  crevasses  se  sont 
formees  d'abord  dans  les  endroits  ou  la  glace  etait  le  plus  mince,  c'est- 
a-dire  sur  le  sommet  des  montagnes  et  des  collines  qui  en  etaient 
recouvertes,  puis  le  long  des  points  les  plus  saillans  de  la  plaine ; 
des  vallees  d'erosion  ont  alors  ete  creusees  au  fond  de  ces  crevasses, 
dans  des  localites  ou  aucun  courant  d'eau  ne  pourrait  couler  sans 
etre  encaisse  dans  des  parois  congelees ;  et  quand  la  glace  eut  com- 
pletement  disparu,  les  grands  blocs  anguleux  qui  couvraient  sa  sur- 
face, ou  qui  etaient  tombes  dans  ses  fentes,  se  sont  trouves  sur  un 
lit  de  petits  cailloux  arrondis,  sous  lesquels  on  trouve  encore  ordi- 
nairement  un  sable  plus  fin.  En  baissant  de  niveau,  la  glace  a 
necessairement  du  occuper  plus  longtemps  les  depressions  du  sol, 
les  petites  vallees  longitudinales  formees  par  les  differentes  ceintures 
des  couches  du  Jura  et  le  fond  des  lacs;  et  c'est  sans  doute  a  ce 
fait  qu'il  faut  attribuer  la  position  bizarre  de  tant  de  blocs  perches  a 
peine  en  equilibre  sur  les  pointes  les  plus  eminentes  des  rochers,  et 


1836-37-]  DISCOURS  DE  NEUCHATEL.  105 

leur  absence  constante  dans  les  enfoncemens,  011  on  n'en  trouve  du 

moins  que  la  ou  de  nouvelles  dilatations  momentanees  de  la  gli 
en  retraite  a  pu  les  y  precipiter. 

Aussi  longtemps  que  le  niveau  des  glaces  dans  le  Jura  ne  fut  pas 
tombe  au-dessous  de  la  ligne  de  Pierre-a-Bot,  les  blocs  qui  ctaient 
encore  repandus  sur  toute  sa  surface,  purent  continuer  a  etre  pousses 
contre  le  Jura;  mais  bientdt  apres  les  glaces  devenant  fort  minces 
sur  toute  la  plaine  Suisse,  durent  en  disparaltre  promptement  et  ne 
plus  laisser  que  des  taches  dans  les  vallees  profondes  et  dans  les 
bassins  des  lacs,  e'est-a-dire.  qu'elles  se  trouverent  bientot  ressern 
dans  les  vallees  inferieures  des  Alpes. 

En  reflechissant  a  ce  qui  a  du  se  passer  pendant  cette  retraite  des 
glaces,  on  est  naturellement  porte  a  penser  que  le  transport  des 
cailloux  roules  de  lavallee  du  Rhin  et  la  deposition  du  Loss  en  ont 
ete  un  des  premiers  effets,  d'autant  plus  que  ces  cailloux  sont  les 
memes  que  ceux  qui  se  trouvent  avec  nos  blocs,  et  que  le  Loss  est 
evidemment  le  resultat  du  detritus  de  la  molasse.  De  frequentes 
debacles  ont  pu  alors  seulement  charrier  aussi  des  blocs  sur  des 
radeaux  de  glaces  a  de  tres-grandes  distances,  ou  raerae  en  entrainer 
quelques-uns  plus  loin  dans  leur  courant. 

La  fonte  et  la  maceration  des  glaces  et  leur  congelation  reiteree 
dans  les  jours  froids,  ont  produit  beaucoup  d'autres  effets  geologiques 
difficiles  a.  expliquer  par  d'autres  causes.  Sans  rappeler  les  vallees 
d'erosion,  je  pourrais  citer  ces  sillons  profonds  qui  ne  sont  pas  des 
fissures  et  qui  sont  domines  par  de  grandes  etendues  de  plaines  ;  ou 
bien  ces  petits  lacs  qui  se  forment  quelquefois  sur  le  bord  des  glaciers, 
et  qui  remanient  les  roches  menues  accumulees  sur  leurs  bords,  de 
maniere  a  leur  donner  une  apparence  stratifiee ;  ou  bien  les  plie- 
nomenes  analogues  que  Ton  observe  sur  les  limites  des  difFe'ren 
stations  ou  les  grandes  nappes  de  glace  ont  du  s'arreter  successive- 
ment  dans  leurs  retraites,  ou  bien  la  dispersion  des  os  des  mammi- 
feres  de  Tepoque  diluvienne,  sans  qu'ils  soient  ni  roules.  ni  bris 
etc.,  ou  encore  une  foule  d'autres  particularites  qui  ne  peu- 
vent  avoir  d'interet  que  lorsqu'on  a  embrasse'  I'ensemble  de  la 
question. 

Des  ce  moment  la  surface  de  la  terre  a  du  etre  soumise  de  nouveau 
aux  influences  du  cours  rdgulier  des  saisons;  ce  fut  alors  le  premier 


106  LOUIS  AGASSrZ.  [chap.  v. 

printemps  des  animaux  et  des  plantes  qui  vivent  de  nos  jours ;  les 
glaces  s'etaient  retirees  jusqivaux  pieds  des  Alpes,  du  sommet  des- 
quelles  il  commencait  a  leur  venir  de  nouveaux  renforts.  Mais 
bientot  elles  subirent  leurs  dernieres  retraites  en  oscillant  toujours, 
gagnant  tantot  en  etendue  et  poussant  des  blocs  devant  elles,  tantot 
se  retirant  dans  des  limites  de  plus  en  plus  etroites.  A  chaque  pied  de 
terrain  qu'elles  abandonnaient,  elles  laissaient  derriere  elles,  comme 
les  glaciers  actuels  en  retraite,  quelques-unes  de  ces  longues  digues 
de  blocs  qui  dominent  encore  les  vallees  alpines.  Bientot  les  lacs 
se  degelerent  aussi,  les  eaux  prirent  leur  cours  actuel,  les  vallees  des 
Alpes  furent  balayees,  et  il  ne  resta  plus  de  glace  des  frimats  passes 
que  sur  les  sommets  de  nos  blanches  montagnes. 

Ce  serait  done  une  grave  erreur  de  confondre  les  glaciers  qui  de- 
scendent  du  sommet  des  Alpes,  avec  les  phenomenes  de  l'epoque 
des  grandes  glaces  qui  ont  precede  leur  existence. 

Le  phenomene  de  la  dispersion  des  blocs  erratiques  ne  doit 
done  plus  etre  envisage  que  comme  un  des  accidens  qui  ont 
accompagne  les  vastes  changemens  occasionnes  par  la  chute  de 
la  temperature  de  notre  globe  avant  le  commencement  de  notre 
epoque. 

Admettre  une  epoque  d'un  froid  assez  intense  pour  recouvrir  toute 
la  terre  a.  de  tres-grandes  distances  des  poles  d'une  masse  de  glace 
aussi  considerable  que  celle  dont  je  viens  de  parler,  est  une  suppo- 
sition qui  parait  en  contradiction  directe  avec  les  faits  si  connus 
qui  demontrent  un  refroidissement  considerable  de  la  terre  depuis 
les  temps  les  plus  recules.  Rien  cependant  ne  nous  a  prouve  jus- 
qu'ici  que  ce  refroidissement  ait  ete  continuel,  et  qu'il  se  soit  opere 
sans  oscillations ;  au  contraire,  quiconque  a  Thabitude  dV'tudier 
la  nature  sous  un  point  de  vue  physiologique,  sera  bien  plus  dispose 
a.  admettre  que  la  temperature  de  la  terre  s'est  maintenue  sans  oscil- 
lations considerables  a.  un  certain  degre,  pendant  toute  la  duree 
d'une  epoque  geologique,  comme  cela  a  lieu  pendant  notre  epoque, 
puis  qifelle  a  diminuee  subitement  et  considerablement  a  la  fin  de 
chaque  epoque,  avec  la  disparition  des  etres  organises  qui  la  carac- 
terisent,  pour  se  relever  avec  Tapparition  dime  nouvelle  creation  au 
commencement  de  Tepoque  suivante,  bien  qu'a  un  degre  inferieur  a 
la  temperature   moyenne  de  Pepoque  precedente ;    en  sorte  que  la 


1836-37-]  D/SCOURS  DE  NEUCHATEL.  107 

diminution  dc  la  temperature  du  globe  pourrait  etre  exprime'e  par  la 
ligne  suivante  : 


Ainsi  Tepoque  de  grand  froid  qui  a  precede'  la  creation  actuelle, 
n'a  ete  qu'une  oscillation  passagere  de  la  temperature  du  globe, 
plus  considerable  que  les  refroidissemens  se'culaires  auxquels  les 
vallees  de  nos  Alpes  sont  sujettes.  Elle  a  accompagne  la  dispari- 
tion  des  animaux  de  Tepoque  diluvienne  des  geologues,  comme  les 
Mammouths  de  Siberie  Tattestent  encore,  et  precede  le  soulevement 
des  Alpes  et  Tapparition  des  etres  vivans  de  nos  jours,  comme  le 
prouvent  les  moraines  et  la  presence  des  poissons  dans  nos  lacs. 
II  y  a  done  scission  complete  entre  la  creation  actuelle  et  celles  qui 
Font  precedee ;  et  si  les  especes  vivantes  ressemblent  quelquefois 
a  s'y  meprendre  a  celles  qui  sont  enfouies  dans  les  entrailles  de  la 
terre,  on  ne  saurait  cependant  affirmer  qu'elles  en  descendent  directe- 
ment  par  voie  de  progeniture,  ou,  ce  qui  est  la  meme  chose,  que  ce 
sont  des  especes  identiques. 

Partant  de  ce  qui  precede,  on  parviendra  aussi  un  jour  a.  de'terminer 
quelle  est  Pepoque  geologique  a.  laquelle  le  soleil  a  commence  a  exercer 
une  influence  assez  considerable  sur  la  surface  de  la  terre,  pour  y  pro- 
duire  les  differences  qui  existent  entre  ses  zones,  sans  que  ces  effets 
fussent  neutralises  par  Taction  de  la  chaleur  interieure,  a  laquelle  la 
terre  a  du  pour  un  temps  une  temperature  tres-uniforme  sur  toute  sa 
surface. 

Cette  maniere  de  voir,  je  le  crains,  ne  sera  pas  partagee  par  un 
grande  nombre  de  nos  geologues  qui  ont  sur  ce  sujet  des  opinions 
arretees  ;  mais  il  en  sera  de  cette  question  comme  de  toutes  celles 
qui  viennent  heurter  des  idees  recues  depuis  longtemps.  Quelque 
opposition  qu'on  puisse  lui  faire,  toujours  est-il  que  les  nombreux 
faits  nouveaux  relatifs  au  transport  des  blocs  que  je  viens  de 
signaler,  et  que  Ton  peut  etudier  si  facilement  dans  la  vallee  du 
Rh6ne  et  aux  environs  de  Neuchatel,  ont  amene  la  question  sur 
un  autre  terrain  que  celui  sur  lequel  elle  a  ete  debattue  jusqu'a 
present. 

Quand  M.  de  Buch  affirma  pour  la  premiere  fois,  en  face  de 
Tecole  formidable  de  Werner,  que  le  granit  est  d'origine  plutonique. 


108  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  v. 

et  que  les  montagnes  se  sont  elevees,  que  dirent  les  Nepturlistes ?  — 
II  fut  d'abord  seul  a  soutenir  sa  these,  et  ce  n*est  qu*en  la  de'fendant 
avec  la  conviction  du  genie  qu'il  l"a  fait  prevaloir.  Heureusement 
que  dans  les  questions  scientifiques,  les  majorites  numeriques  n'ont 
jamais  decide  de  prime  abord  aucune  question. 

La  forme  que  j'ai  donnee  aux  observations  que  je  viens  de  pre- 
senter, eloignera,  je  Tespere,  d'ici  toute  discussion  sur  ce  sujet,  a. 
moins  qu'on  ne  reclame  qu'il  en  soit  autrement.  Cependant,  comme 
je  ne  saurais  esperer  d'avoir  convaincu  de  la  verite  de  ces  vues  ceux 
qui  viennent  de  les  entendre  pour  la  premiere  fois,  je  pense  que  la 
section  de  Geologie  sera  la  reunion  la  plus  convenable  pour  discuter 
ces  questions,  s'il  y  a  lieu.  La  je  me  ferai  un  devoir  de  repondre  a 
toutes  les  objections  que  Ton  voudra  bien  me  faire,  et  que  je  solli- 
cite  meme  vivement  dans  Tinteret  de  la  verite. 

P.S.  Cette  exposition  a  ete  accompagnee  de.  demonstrations 
graphiques  qui  ne  peuvent  etre  reproduites  ici,  mais  que  je  publierai 
ailleurs.  —  They  are  placed  at  the  end  of  the  Atlas  accompanying 
"Etudes  sur  les  glaciers,*'  published  three  years  later,  as  plates  15, 
16,  17,  and  18,  Neuchatel,  1840. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

1 836-1 837  {continued)  and  1838. 

Discussion  raised  by  Agassiz's  Discourse  at  Neuchatel  —  Agas- 
siz's  Great  Reputation  at  the  Early  Age  of  Thirty  Years  — 
Death  of  his  Father  —  Laurillard  the  Assistant  of  Cuvier 
—  The  Establishment  of  Hercule  Nicoi.et's  Lithography  at 
Neuchatel  —  Dr.  Vogt  of  Berne  sends  Agassiz  Edward  Desor 
as  A  Secretary  —  Offer  of  a  Chair  at  the  Academies  of 
Geneva  and  Lausanne  —  First  Visit  to  the  Bernese  Alps  — 
Two  Letters  to  Jules  Thurmann  —  A  Visit  to  Chamounix  — 
The  Meeting  of  the  Geological  Society  of  France  at  Porren- 
truy  —  First  Use  of  Lithochromy  for  the  Plates  of  Fossil 
Fishes — The  Geologist  Armand  Gressly  —  Agassiz  created  a 
"Bourgeois"  of  Neuchatel  —  Organization  of  an  Academy  at 
Neuchatel. 

The  general  impression,  after  the  address  was  deliv- 
ered, was  astonishment  mingled  with  much  incredulity. 
It  was  like  a  pistol  shot  fired  into  the  midst  of  the 
assembly.  The  majority  were  at  first  disagreeably 
impressed  by  this  disturbance  of  the  peace.  Von  Buch 
particularly  was  horrified,  and  with  his  hands  raised 
towards  the  sky,  and  his  head  bowed  to  the  distant 
Bernese  Alps,  exclaimed  :  — 

"  O  Sancte  de  Saussiire,  or  a  pro  nobis  I  " 

In  general,  almost  all  the  practical  stratigraphists 
present  were  either  opposed  to  it  or  indifferent.     Even 

109 


no  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vi. 

de  Charpentier  was  not  gratified  to  see  his  glacial 
question  mixed  up  with  rather  uncalled-for  biological 
problems,  the  connection  of  which  with  the  glacial  age 
was  more  than  problematic. 

The  first  part  of  the  address  presented  in  a  clear  way 
all  the  facts  first  observed  by  Venetz  and  de  Charpen- 
tier, with  additional  observations  made  by  Agassiz  on 
the  Jura  in  the  vicinity  of  Orbe,  Neuchatel,  and  Bienne. 
The  only  opinion  expressed  by  Agassiz  which  was 
opposed  to  de  Charpentier's  glacial  theory,  that  the  ice 
covering  all  the  country  as  far  as  the  Jura  did  not  come 
from  glaciers  of  the  Alps,  was  an  error  on  his  part. 
The  second  part  presented  by  Agassiz,  a  combina- 
tion of  his  ideas  with  those  of  Schimper,  was  fully 
as  erroneous  as  the  theory  of  water  and  mud  currents 
defended  by  de  Luc,  von  Buch,  and  Elie  de  Beaumont. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  de  Charpentier  shook  his 
head  and  was  sorry  to  see  his  glacial  theory  used  as  a 
vehicle  for  such  biological  dreams  and  fantastic  expla- 
nations of  the  "  role  "  played  by  the  upheaval  of  the  Alps. 
The  only  rational  and  just  conception  presented  in  the 
second  part  is,  that  immense  masses  of  ice  covered  the 
earth  wherever  boulders  and  polished  rocks  exist,  and 
that  the  earth  was  covered  by  ice  at  least  from  the 
north  pole  to  the  Mediterranean  and  Caspian  seas;  in  a 
word,  that  there  was  an  "  Ice-age,"  or  "  Eiszeit,"  accord- 
ing to  the  name  coined  by  Schimper. 

The  idea  of  an  Ice-age  was  a  stroke  of  genius  due  to 
Agassiz ; 1    Schimper   tried   to   explain   it  by   means  of 

1  Many  years  after,  when  the  question  of  an  Ice-age  had  been  recog- 
nized as  settled  according  to  the  views  of  Agassiz,  I  received  a  letter  from 


1836-37-]  KARL  SCHIMPER.  in 

biological  phenomena,  which  according  to  his  views 
were  the  causes  of  the  fall  of  temperature  (la  chute  de 
la  temperature).  Schimper  exhibits  a  curious  combina- 
tion of  a  dreaming  philosophy  and  mathematical  spirit 
with  a  great  deal  of  poetical  inspiration,  —  a  most 
attractive  man.  From  the  first  he  made  use  of  mathe- 
matical drawings  in  his  explanations  of  the  morphology 
and  phyllotaxy  of  plants ;  and  during  his  stay  at  Neu- 
chatel  in  1837,  he  constructed,  with  the  help  of  Agassiz, 
a  synoptical  table,  showing  the  disposition,  the  history, 
and  classification  of  the  animal  kingdom,  which  has 
since  been  published  under  the  title  of  "  Crust  of  the 
Earth  as  related  to  Zoology,"  as  a  frontispiece  to 
"  Principles  of  Zoology,"  by  Agassiz  and  Gould,  Bos- 
ton, 1848.  Shortly  after,  during  the  same  year,  Schim- 
per constructed  a  table  showing  the  different  systems 
of  upheaval,  as  imagined  by  Elie  de  Beaumont,  by 
means  of  concentric  circles,  with  a  wheel  in  the  centre 
showing  the  directions.  Applying  his  mathematical 
bent  to  the  fall  of  the  temperature  clue,  according 
to  him,  to  the  complete  extinction  of  life  at  the  end  of 
each  geological  period,  he  drew  the  little  figure  which 
was  inserted  by  Agassiz  in  his  address. 

Two    features    characteristic    of    the    style    of    this 
celebrated    discourse    must    occur   with    force    to    any 

him,  dated  Cambridge,  March  13,  1868,  in  which  he  said:  "Ce  n'etait  pas 
petite  chose  de  se  poser  en  adversaire  de  Leopold  de  Buch,  en  1837,  et 
d'avoir  conquis  sur  ce  sujet  l'assentiment  de  tous  les  geologues,  a  l'excep- 
tion  d'Elie  de  Beaumont;  car  l'an  dernier  Murchison  lui-mlme  m'ecrivait 
qu'il  se  rendait  enfin  a  l'evidence.  Vous  savez  que  la  part  de  Charpentier 
se  reduit  a  avoir  demontre  la  grande  extension  du  glacier  du  Rhone.  1 
moi  qui  ai  pose  la  question  d'une  epoque  glaciaire  et  qui  l'ai  fait  prevaloir." 


ii2  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vi. 

ider  who  is  a  French  scholar.  First,  it  is  astonish- 
in  ■■■  to  see  so  great  a  number  of  words  italicized.  In  no 
one  of  his  papers,  before  or  since,  did  Agassiz  use 
this  mode  of  attracting  attention  to  special  points.  It 
shows  how  excited  he  was,  and  how  desirous  to  impress 
on  his  listeners  and  readers  several  points,  considered 
by  him  of  paramount  importance  in  the  glacial  question. 
As  a  rule,  Agassiz  shunned  such  a  way  of  securing 
attention.  lie  was  a  good  writer,  and  made  excellent 
use  of  French,  which  remained  his  favourite  language 
until  the  end  of  his  life.  However,  it  is  easy  to  detect 
in  this  address  of  Neuchatel  a  certain  number  of  Ger- 
manisms, due  to  his  long  residences  in  southern  Germany. 

Discussions  of  great  earnestness  followed,  in  which 
all  the  naturalists  present  joined;  and  although  Agassiz 
displayed  a  rare  talent  for  exposition,  he  succeeded 
only  in  attracting  attention  to  the  practical  part  of  his 
address.  With  his  keen  eyes,  he  immediately  perceived 
the  bad  impression  made  by  his  theoretical  views,  and 
if  he  did  not  drop  them  at  once,  it  was  only  because  it 
was  so  hard  for  him  to  admit  a  mistake ;  having  once 
proclaimed  his  views  and  opinions  on  any  subject,  he 
was  always  most  persistent  in  maintaining  them.  How- 
ever, in  this  case  he  recalls  his  theory  only  once,  at  the 
end  of  his  volume  "  Etudes  sur  les  glaciers,"  p.  328, 
1840,  and  never  mentions  it  again  in  any  of  his  papers 
or  addresses. 

Elie  de  Beaumont,  who  arrived  the  day  after  the 
meeting  was  over,  joined  von  Buch  in  his  opposition, 
and  the  two,  with  their  Italian  friend,  de  Collegno,  were 
much  excited  and  painfully  affected.     Von  Buch,  who 


1836-37-]  GREAT  REPUTATION.  113 

was  before  very  favourable  to  Agassiz,  became  an  oppo- 
nent, and  there  is  no  doubt  that  Agassiz's  very  fair 
prospect  of  an  offer  of  a  professorship  at  the  Berlin 
University  was  absolutely  ruined  from  that  day. 

The  great  value  of  Agassiz's  address  lies  in  his  more 
graphic  description  of  the  action  of  glaciers  on  rocks, 
than  that  given  before  by  de  Charpentier,  in  his  paper 
of  1834,  and  in  the  idea  of  the  universality  of  the  glacial 
action  over  half  a  hemisphere.  Besides,  it  drew  atten- 
tion more  vividly  to  the  question,  and  in  a  way  which 
obliged  every  one  opposed  to  the  view  of  glacial  action 
to  give  his  reasons. 

There  is  no  other  example  of  such  a  rapid  rise  to 
great  scientific  reputation  as  Agassiz  enjoyed  in  his 
thirtieth  year.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  when  he 
was  still  a  student,  -he  laid  the  foundation  by  his  pub- 
lication in  1828  of  Spix's  Brazilian  fishes;  and  the 
first  numbers  or  "  livraisons  '  of  his  "  Fossil  Fishes  ' 
attracted  the  attention  of  naturalists  the  world  over. 
Everything  he  published  from  1828  to  1837  *s  remark- 
able, showing  a  rare  power  of  description  and  classifica- 
tion, and  a  facility  in  handling  the  most  difficult  problem 
of  natural  history.  His  memoirs  are  entirely  his  own 
work,  except  the  illustrations;  and  any  one  who  reads 
them  will  see  a  difference  between  them  and  similar 
work  produced  after  1837.  His  power  of  classifying 
fossils  and  his  success  in  reducing  to  order  thousands  oi 
specimens  of  fishes,  a  great  many  of  which  were  perfect 
puzzles  to  every  one,  were  simply  marvellous;  and  he 
worked  at  his  herculean  task  as  no  man  but  a  man  of 
genius  could  have  done. 


,i4  LOUIS  AG ASSIZ.  [chap.  vi. 

Up  to  that  time,  he  had  worked  entirely  alone.  The 
only  collaboration  he  had  ever  had  was  in  his  Neu- 
chatel  address  before  the  Swiss  naturalists,  when  he 
combined,  as  he  said,  his  views  with  those  of  Karl 
Schimper,  on  the  explanation  of  the  great  ice  cover- 
ing, which,  according  to  his  view,  had  extended  from 
the  north  pole  as  far  at  least  as  the  Mediterranean 
S  i.  It  was  not  a  success,  as  he  had  occasion  at  once 
to  see  before  the  meeting  was  adjourned  ;  for  "  Schimp- 
erizing  "  —  as  it  was  familiarly  called  among  Agassiz's 
friends  —  was  anything  but  congenial  to  his  audience. 
It  is  true  that  he  abandoned,  little  by  little,  all  the  ideas 
put  forward  so  boldly  and  rashly,  retaining  only  the 
word  "Ice-period"  (Eisnetz)\  and  he  returned  quietly  to 
the  teaching  he  had  received  so  liberally  from  de  Char- 
pentier  and  Venetz.  But  the  difficulties  which  arose 
from  this  collaboration,  and  which  broke  out  soon  after, 
as  we  shall  see,  were  a  hint  that  collaboration  was  not 
suited  to  him,  and  a  warning  to  him  to  be  on  his  guard 
in  future  against  scientific  help  and  associates.  Instead 
of  heeding  the  warning,  Agassiz,  on  the  contrary,  from 
that  time  until  almost  the  end  of  his  life,  accepted  col- 
laboration of  some  sort,  and  entered  into  a  succession 
of  very  serious  difficulties,  from  which  he  was  never 
able  entirely  to  extricate  himself,  falling  from  one  into 
another,  and  suffering  greatly  through  his  own  fault. 

It  is  pleasant  to  say  that  until  1837  Agassiz  had 
really  committed  no  fault  of  any  consequence.  At  the 
early  age  of  thirty  years  he  had  attained  the  zenith  of 
his  reputation,  entirely  by  his  own  exertion  and  his  un- 
aided works.     The  address  of  1837,  on  the  glacial  ques- 


iS36-37-]  DEATH  OF  HIS  FATHER.  115 

tion,  may  be  considered  as  the  climax  of  his  scientific 
life,  as  far  as  originality  of  research  is  concerned :  it  was 
his  apogee.  It  is  not  that  Agassiz's  publications  since 
that  time  are  devoid  of  originality  ;  not  by  any  means. 
But  after  1837  he  always  made  too  much  use  of  others 
in  the  work  of  writing  and  too  often  of  observation ;  and 
it  is  easy  to  detect  the  lack  of  unity,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  inequality  of  value  in  all  his  publications  after 
1837.  To  be  sure,  Agassiz  published  a  great  deal  more 
after  1837  than  he  did  before,  but  the  quantity  did  not 
compensate  for  the  quality. 

His  good  father  —  a  true,  practical,  and  business  man 
—  died  a  few  weeks  after  the  meeting  of  the  Swiss  nat- 
uralists at  Neuchatel.  He  much  enjoyed  seeing  his  son, 
still  so  young,  the  president  of  an  assembly  of  savants 
collected  not  only  from  all  the  cantons  of  Switzerland, 
but  even  from  Berlin,  Paris,  Strasbourg,  and  Frankfort. 
Rodolphe  Benjamin  Louis  Agassiz  was  born  the  3d  of 
March,  1776,  and  died  on  the  6th  of  September,  1837, 
at  Concise,  in  the  parsonage  of  that  beautiful  village, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-one  years.  We  may  say  of  him, 
what  we  said  previously  of  Cuvier  :  had  he  lived  ten 
years  longer,  it  would  have  been  to  the  advantage  of 
Louis,  who  so  much  needed  good  advice  and  restraint 
in  his  already  too  great  expenses. 

During  his  stay  in  Paris,  in  1832,  Agassiz  was  the 
witness  of  the  great  help  afforded  to  Cuvier  by  his 
principal  assistant  naturalist,  M.  Charles  L.  Laurillard. 
In  the  laboratory,  in  his  library,  or  in  his  cabinet, 
Cuvier  always  found  everything  in  perfect  order,  and 
ready  for  the  special  work  he  was  engaged  in.     Lau- 


1 16  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vi. 

rillard,  born  at  Montbeliard,  like  Cuvier,  possessed  a 
great  heart,  a  rare  modesty,  profound  knowledge  of 
many  questions  of  natural  history,  was  devoted  body 
and  soul  to  his  great  master,  and  was  completely  de- 
void of  any  ambition,  except  to  receive  and  always 
deserve  the  approbation  of  Cuvier.  Ever  since  that 
time,  Agassiz's  ambition  had  been  to  get,  as  soon  as 
his  means  would  allow  it,  his  own  Laurillard.  He  tried 
again  and  again,  and  always  failed.  It  is  true  that  men 
like  Laurillard  are  very  rare  ;  but  Agassiz  never  pos- 
sessed the  art  of  properly  managing  his  assistants ;  an 
art  which  Cuvier  always  had.  Cuvier  treated  Lauril- 
lard with  dignity,  never  with  familiarity,  much  less  in 
a  spirit  of  comradery  and  companionship.  From  the 
first  day  of  the  arrival  of  Laurillard  in  the  laboratory 
of  Cuvier,  he  received  a  regular  salary.  He  often 
accompanied  Cuvier  in  his  journeys  ;  but  he  had  the 
great  tact  to  remain  in  his  subordinate  position  of 
assistant,  taking  care  to  keep  himself  always  in  the 
background. 

With  Agassiz  it  was  very  different ;  he  never  knew 
how  to  keep  his  assistants  at  a  distance.  They  very 
soon  became  intimate  with  him,  or  were  allowed  privi- 
leges not  proper  to  their  subordinate  position.  In 
addition,  the  question  of  compensation  was  a  constant 
difficulty,  either  through  the  lack  of  complete  under- 
standing, or  through  the  small  amount  of  the  salaries. 
In  a  word,  Agassiz  was  a  very  bad  manager  of  men, 
while  Cuvier,  on  the  contrary,  was  a  capital  and  rare 
director  of  everything  relating  to  scientific  work  and 
scientific  assistants.     Years  after  the  death  of  Cuvier,  I 


1836-37-]  H/S  LITHOGRAPHY.  117 

have  heard  Laurillard  speak  of  him  with  the  same 
respect  as  if  Cuvier  had  been  in  the  room.  With 
Agassiz,  all  his  assistants  became  so  familiar  and  so 
much  on  an  equality,  as  to  raise  the  question  who  was 
truly  the  master  and  director. 

Finding  constant  difficulties  in  regard  to  the  execution 
and  correction  of  the  plates  for  his  "  Poissons  fossiles," 
it  was  natural  that  Agassiz  should  desire  to  have  a  good 
lithography  established  at  Neuchatel.  But  such  an 
establishment  in  so  small  a  town  as  Neuchatel  then  was, 
was  a  very  hazardous  undertaking  ;  for  it  was  certain 
from  the  beginning  that  the  only  customer  of  any  con- 
sequence for  a  great  lithography  would  be  Agassiz,  and, 
with  his  small  salary,  although  raised  from  $400  to  3600, 
it  was  almost  an  act  of  folly  to  establish  a  lithography ; 
more  especially  since  he  was  also  obliged  to  pay  for 
all  his  printing.  The  man  chosen  was  a  Neuchatelois 
from  La-Chaux-de-Fond,  named  Hercule  Nicolet;  a  good 
lithographer,  or  artist  rather,  but  as  devoid  of  business 
capacities  as  Agassiz.  The  lithography  was  established 
at  the  end  of  1836,  aux  Sablons,  above  the  city  of 
Neuchatel,  just  at  the  place  where  the  railroad  station 
now  stands.  The  establishment  soon  increased,  about 
twenty  persons  being  employed  there,  and  turned  out 
perfect  work.  But,  from  the  beginning,  it  was  evi- 
dent that  other  publications  with  plates,  besides  the 
"  Poissons  fossiles,"  the  "  Echinodermes,"  and  the 
" Poissons  d'eau  douce,"  must  be  undertaken  to  keep 
such  a  large  establishment  in  work.  And  Agassiz,  un- 
practical as  he  was,  resolved  to  publish  a  German  and 
French  edition  of  "  Sowerby's  Mineral  Conchology  of 


LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vi. 

Great  Britain,"  a  very  expensive  work.  The  first  part, 
or  "  livraison  '  is  entitled,  "  Sowerby-Mineral-Conchol- 
ogie  Grossbritanniens ;  deutsche  Bearbeitung,  heraus- 
gegeben  von  H.  Nicolet,  durchgesehen  von  Dr.  Agassiz," 
and  was  offered  by  the  editor  to  the  library  of  the 
I  [elvetic  Society  of  Naturalists,  at  the  meeting  of  July, 
[837,  at  Neuchatel. 

Perceiving  that  he  had  too  many  irons  in  the  fire, 
Agassiz  longed  for  a  secretary;  and,  in  a  visit  to  Berne, 
during  the  fall  of  1837,  he  asked  Dr.  Vogt,  the  father  of 
Karl  Vogt,  if  he  knew  any  young  man  able  to  write 
well,  with  some  knowledge  of  natural  history,  and 
acquainted  with  the  French  language,  because  his  pub- 
lications must  be  in  that  language.  And  he  added,  "  If 
you  can  find  for  me  somebody  of  that  sort,  Papa  Vogt, 
I  shall  bless  the  day  which  has  brought  me  here." 
Karl  Vogt,  then  a  young  university  student,  who  was 
present  at  the  visit  of  Agassiz,  and  has  recalled  the 
whole  conversation  in  his  biography  of  Edward  Desor, 
says,  "  Desor  had  gone  to  Hofwyl  to  offer  his  services 
at  the  great  educational  establishment  of  von  Fellen- 
berg,1  with  the  hope  of  being  accepted.  But  after  two 
days  passed  there,  he  returned  to  Berne  absolutely 
crushed  by  his  failure  to  obtain  a  position,  having  re- 
ceived the  discouraging  answer  from  Herr  Fellenberg 

1  The  Hofwyl  College,  placed  by  von  Fellenberg  in  his  chateau,  was  a 
philanthropic  institution  created  as  a  normal  school  of  agriculture  and  a 
model  farm.  There  was  besides  a  great  school  for  secondary  and  superior 
education.  It  was  very  expensive  to  von  Fellenberg,  who  was  obliged  to 
appoint  too  many  professors  of  an  inferior  quality  and  who  were  poorly 
paid,  and  who  did  not  stay  lung.  They  were  recruited  mainly  in  Germany 
among  students  who  had  just  left  universities. 


I336-37-]  ARRIVAL   OF  E.  DESOR.  119 

that  all  the  places  he  was  able  to  dispose  of  had  been 
already  filled."  The  house  of  Dr.  Vogt  was  a  sort  of 
refuge,  always  open  to  all  German  political  refugees,  as 
Desor  was.  At  supper  Dr.  Vogt  said,  "  What  do  you 
think,  Desor,  of  going  to-morrow  to  Neuchatel  where 
Agassiz  is  now ;  he  wants  a  secretary.  It  seems  to  me 
that  it  may  be  a  good  thing  for  you.  I  will  give  you  a 
few  lines  of  introduction  to  him."  At  those  words 
Desor  jumped  with  joy,  and,  next  morning,  started  on 
foot.  He  arrived  a  day  later  at  Neuchatel,  and  with 
his  traveller's  stick  in  his  hand,  a  cap  on  his  head,  a 
gray  blouse  on  his  back,  and  very  few  pennies  in  his 
pocket,  called  at  Agassiz's  apartment  and  delivered  the 
letter  of  introduction  and  recommendation  of  Dr.  Vogt. 
He  was  accepted  by  Agassiz,  but  without  any  regular 
pay.  Agassiz  gave  him  a  room  in  his  own  apartment, 
and  paid  his  board  at  Professor  Ladame's  "  table  de 
pension,"  and  as  to  pecuniary  remuneration,  it  was 
simply  understood  that  when  he  wanted  money,  if  Agas- 
siz had  any,  he  would  give  him  some ;  if  Agassiz  had 
none,  he  would  have  to  wait  until  Agassiz's  purse  was 
replenished  in  some  way.  As  Karl  Vogt  says,  "When 
Agassiz  had  money,  he  gave  what  was  wanted,"  — 
a  singularly  unbusiness-like  arrangement. 

P.  J.  Edouard  Desor,  born  February,  1811,  near 
Frankfort,  was  a  law  student  at  the  University  of 
Heidelberg,  when  a  revolution  took  place  in  southern 
Germany,  about  1832,  in  which  he  participated,  like 
many  other  students ;  and  he  was  obliged  to  fly  to 
France  for  safety,  and  went  to  Paris,  where  he  lived 
four  years  in  poverty,  giving  a  few  lessons  as  a  private 


120  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vi. 

teacher,  and  helping  in  the  translation  into  French,  and 
in  collaboration  with  E.  Duret,  of  one  volume  of  Karl 
Ratter's  Geography  on  Africa,  and  of  a  small  memoir 
by  A.  de  Klipstein  and  J.  J.  Kaup  on  the  Dinotherium 

anteum.  His  knowledge  of  natural  history  was 
very  limited,  and  consisted  only  of  what  any  student 
who  followed  lectures  at  Heidelberg  and  Paris  would 
pick  up.  He  had  studied  law,  and  had  received  no 
proper  education  to  become  a  naturalist.  He  offered 
himself  at  the  Hofwyl  Institut,  near  Berthoud,  directed 
by  the  celebrated  Fellenberg,  as  a  teacher  of  modern 
languages,  more  especially  of  French,  for  which  he 
had  fitted  himself  during  his  four  years'  stay  in  Paris. 
Agassiz  saw  at  once  that  his  natural  history  knowledge 
was  most  elementary ;  but  as  he  was  able  to  make  good 
translations  into  French  and  German,  and  was  intelli- 
gent and  ready  to  undertake  anything  to  get  his  living, 
Agassiz  engaged  him. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  Desor  was  taken  by 
Agassiz  as  collaborator  and  assistant  in  natural  history. 
He  was  taken  only  as  a  secretary ;  for,  as  we  have  said, 
until  then  the  natural  sciences  were  almost  completely 
unknown  to  him.  His  only  duties  at  first  were  to  write 
letters  under  Agassiz's  dictation,  to  keep  the  accounts, 
to  oversee  what  was  going  on  at  the  lithography  and  at 
the  printing-press.  During  the  first  two  years  of  his 
stay  at  Neuchatel,  he  took  only  the  scientific  title  of 
geographer.  But  he  followed  Agassiz's  public  lectures, 
and  quickly  apprehended  everything  said  by  Agassiz, 
learning  natural  history  with  great  facility.  He  had  a 
ood  memory,  and  was  a  hard  worker,  —  "infatigable," 


or 


1836-37-]  EDOUARD  DESOR.  121 

as  Vogt  says.  In  fact,  Desor  entered  Agassiz's  house, 
with  the  smallest  possible  amount  of  natural  history 
knowledge ;  and  in  two  years  he  became  a  tolerably 
good  assistant  in  natural  history,  being  the  best  pupil 
Agassiz'  had  during  his  stay  in  Europe. 

It  is  important  to  remark  that  at  the  time  of  Desor's 
arrival  at  Neuchatel  as  Agassiz's  secretary,  nine  parts, 
or  "  livraisons,"  of  the  eighteen  composing  the  whole 
work  of  "  Les  Poissons  fossiles,"  had  already  been 
issued ;  that  is,  half  of  the  work  had  been  published. 
The  tenth  "  livraison '  was  on  the  point  of  being  dis- 
tributed, and  was  officially  issued  at  the  beginning  of 
1838.  Eight  plates  of  echinoderms,  for  the  "  Echino- 
dermes  fossiles  de  la  Suisse,"  were  already  printed,  as 
well  as  a  certain  number  of  plates  of  "  Trigonia  "  and 
"Mya." 

As  soon  as  he  was  established  in  Agassiz's  house, 
Desor  was  put  at  work  on  the  translation  into  German 
and  into  French  of  Sowerby's  great  work  on  the  fossils 
of  Great  Britain,  and  afterward  at  the  translation  into 
German  of  Buckland's  Bridgewater  Treatise  on  Geol- 
ogy, all  of  which  were  almost  useless,  not  one  ever 
having  paid  the  expenses  of  printing  and  lithography. 
If  Agassiz  had  had  millions  at  his  disposal,  it  would 
have  been  very  well ;  but  even  then  he  might  have 
used  the  money  with  more  profit  to  science.  For  if  up 
to  this  time  Agassiz  had  experienced  great  difficulties 
and  stringency  in  money  matters  in  keeping  his  two 
draughtsmen,  and  publishing  his  "Poissons  fossiles," 
he  had  at  least  succeeded  in  keeping  free  of  heavy 
debts.       His    new    undertakings    were    regarded    with 


I-  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vi. 

apprehension  by  all  his  family  and  his  best  friends. 
But  it  was  useless  to  oppose  Agassiz;  he  would  listen 
to  nothing  and  to  no  one.  Science  was  paramount  with 
him  ;  everything  else  was  of  little  consequence.  He 
was  born  to  give  great  impetus  to  natural  history;  and 
all  his  life  he  was  absolutely  devoted  to  it.  Desor  saw 
this  very  quickly,  and  took  advantage  of  it.  Science 
and  friends  working  in  the  same  field  were  everything. 

Vgassiz  et  ses  amis,"  or  "Agassiz  et  ses  compagnons 
de  voyages,"  became  supreme.  It  was  an  unfortunate 
day  for  the  future  of  Agassiz  when  Desor  entered  his 
service.  From  that  time  until  he  left  Neuchatel,  in 
1846,  during  nine  years,  expenses  increased,  until  a 
complete  collapse  came  as  the  inevitable  consequence. 
Instead  of  being  encouraged  to  expend  more  and  more, 
Agassiz,  on  the  contrary,  ought  to  have  been  constantly 
restrained,  on  account  of  his  too  great  propensity  to 
throw  money  in  all  directions,  even  when  it  was  not 
absolutely  necessary.  It  was  difficult  to  stop  him,  it  is 
true ;  but  repeated  representations,  accompanied  by  the 
warnings  constantly  poured  into  his  ears  by  all  the 
members  of  his  family,  Alexander  Braun  included,  and 
all  his  best  friends,  might  have  resulted  in  restriction 
instead  of  constant  expansion. 

The  Academy  of  Lausanne,  after  conferring  on  Agas- 
siz the  title  of  honorary  professor,  offered  him,  in  1838, 
a  chair  of  active  professor.  Pressure  was  exerted  by 
some  of  Agassiz's  kindred,  all  Vaudois,  —  for  the  Can- 
ton de  Vaud  is  the  true  patria  (fatherland)  of  the  Agas- 
siz, —  but  in  vain.      He  had  cast  in  his  lot  with  Neu- 


1836-38.]  ACADEMY  OF  LAUSANNE.  123 

chatel,  and  remained  faithful  to  the  place  which  first 
gave  him  an  official  position.  To  reward  his  attach- 
ment, the  citizens  of  his  adopted  city  wrote  him  a  letter 
of  thanks,  announcing  at  the  same  time  that  his  salary 
had  been  increased  by  2000  francs  ($400)  for  three 
years.  A  few  weeks  before  the  offer  of  the  Lausanne 
Academy  was  made,  Agassiz  was  approached  by  the 
already  celebrated  physician,  Auguste  de  la  Rive,  on 
the  subject  of  a  chair  at  the  Geneva  Academy.  In  a 
letter  dated  May,  1838,  de  la  Rive  stated  frankly  how 
the  matter  stood ;  and  that  he  himself  and  everybody 
at  Geneva  thought  that  Agassiz  was  the  one  indis- 
pensable man.  But  Agassiz  was  already  too  strongly 
bound  by  his  lithographic  establishment  and  printing 
works  to  break  his  connection  with  Neuchatel ;  at  least, 
he  thought  so,  and  declined  the  friendly  offers  of  de  la 
Rive.  It  was  doubtless  a  mistake ;  for  Geneva  would 
have  given  him  more  support  and  income  than  he  was 
able  to  get  at  Neuchatel.  As  de  la  Rive  told  him,  "at 
Geneva  you  would  be  a  second  de  Saussure." 

After  a  short  journey  to  Paris,  during  July,  1838,  in 
connection  with  his  work  on  the  "  Poissons  fossiles," 
and  to  examine  more  carefully  than  he  had  done  before 
the  method  of  the  laboratory  at  the  Jardin  des  Plantes 
for  moulding  fossil  animals,  he  started  for  the  Hassli 
in  the  Oberland  of  Berne,  studying  carefully  all  glacial 
marks  round  the  village  of  %Guttannen,  the  Handeck,  at 
the  Grimsel,  and  at  the  glacier  of  Rosenlaui.  Agassiz 
took  with  him  five  persons,  making  a  party  of  six,  —  his 
brother-in-law  Max  Braun,  a  mining  engineer  just  re- 


124  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vi. 

turned  from  Algeria,  his  draughtsman  Dinkel,  who  had 

returned  from  his  three  years'  stay  in  England,  his  sec- 
retary Desor,  and  two  students  or  amateurs  of  glaciers 
and  high  alpine  region. 

It  was  Agassiz's  first  excursion  to  the  Bernese  Alps, 
and  everything  enchanted  him;  from  Thun  to  Inter- 
laken,  Meyringen,  and  Helleplatte,  where  the  granite 
is  so  finely  polished  and  striated  by  old  glaciers  that  it 
looks  like  polished  marble.  Dinkel  made  an  exact 
drawing  of  it,  which  was  published  afterward  by  Agas- 
siz  in  the  beautiful  atlas  accompanying  his  "  Etudes  sur 
les  glaciers."  Agassiz  was  particularly  impressed  by 
the  Grimsel  and  its  environs,  and  at  this  time  made  his 
first  visit  to  the  glacier  of  the  Aar,  which  afterward 
became  his  great  station  for  glacial  observations.  The 
excursion  lasted  only  ten  days,  and  they  were  again  at 
Neuchatel  on  the  24th  of  August. 

The  following  letter  addressed  to  the  great  Jurassic 
geologist,  Thurmann,  on  the  occasion  of  the  approach- 
ing meeting  of  the  Geological  Society  of  France  in 
Switzerland,  is  interesting ;  for  it  was  written  on  the 
same  day  he  returned  from  the  Oberland. 

Neuchatel,  le  24  aodt,  1838. 
Monsieur  Jules  Thurmann, 
a  Porrentruv. 

Monsieur ; — J'arrive  en  ce  moment  a  Neuchatel  d'une  tournee 
dans  les  Alpes  bernoises,  ou  j^tais  alle  inspecter  cette  partie  de  la 
sdrie  de  nos  glaciers,  desirant  remettre  sur  le  tapis  la  question  des 
roches  polies,  des  moraines,  des  blocs  erratiques,  etc.,  qui  est  si 
evidente  et  sur  laquelle  la  plupart  de  nos  geologues  ont  si  peu  de 


1836-38.]  LETTER    TO    THURMANN.  125 

faits  a  leur  connoissance.  Tout  ce  que  j'ai  dnonce*  pre'ce'demment  sur 
cette  grave  question  se  trouve  confirmd  sur  un  nouveau  terrain  ou 
j'ai  meme  rencontre'  un  collaborates  intelligent,  avec  lequel  je  n'ai 
pas  eu  de  peine  a  nventendre,  car  il  avait  vn  (ce  collaborateur  etait 
Arnold  Guyot) .  C'est  la  une  condition  sine  qua  non.  Je  suis  bien 
rejoui  que  vous  avez  songd  a  faire  passer  la  course  (de  la  Societe 
Geologique)  par  le  Landeron,  la,  il  y  a  de  quoi  voir,  tout  ce  qui 
dans  la  question  concerne  le  Jura ;  mais  malheureusement  nous 
n'avons  les  Alpes  qu'a  Phorizon  et  non  pas  sous  nos  pieds  pour  les 
comparer. 

Cependant  j'apporterai  quelques  echantillons,  qui  suppleront  du 
moins,  aux  yeux  de  ceux  qui  n'auront  pas  pris  d'avance  le  parti  de 
ne  pas  vouloir  voir.  Je  suis  decide  a.  ne  parler  que  de  faits,  les 
comprendra  qui  pourra.  A  moins  qu'on  ne  veuille  pas  prendre  Pen- 
gagement  de  ne  pas  discuter  sur  des  suppositions  gratuites  et  nier 
pour  cela,  Pexistence  des  faits  que  Ton  pourrait  aller  constater  dans 
quelques  journees.  J'ai  trop  a.  me  plaindre  de  la  maniere  dont  on  a 
traite  des  observations  consciencieuses  pour  vouloir  prendre  part 
une  seconde  fois  a.  un  pareil  scandal  (cela  se  rapporte  aux  critiques 
injustes  et  assez  acerbes  de  von  Buch  et  Elie  de  Beaumont  a  Neu- 
chatel  l'annee  precedente). 

D'ailleurs  soyez  persuade,  Monsieur,  que  je  me  fais  une  fete  d'aller 
a.  Porrentruy,  et  que  je  compte  my  trouver  des  le  4  (septembre)  au 
soir.  Notre  ami  Gressly  est  gravement  indispose,  je  crains  bien 
qiril  ne  puisse  pas  etre  des  notres  (Gressly  n'a  pu  se  rendre  a  la 
reunion). 

J'espere  beaucoup  de  notre  visite  au  Landeron  pour  l'examen 
de  la  question  des  anciens  glaciers  et  des  grandes  nappes  de  glace 
ante-alpines. 

Agreez,  Monsieur,  Passurance  de  ma  consideration  distingue'e. 

Ls.  Agassiz. 


126  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vi. 

A  preceding  letter  to  Thurmann,  dated  Neuchatel,  27 
fanuary,  1836,  after  Agassiz's  return  from  England, 
contains  the  following  judicious  remarks:  — 

Cest  peu  de  jours  avant  mon  depart  pour  TAngleterre  que  j'ai 
recu  rintcrcssaut  envoi  de  fossiles  que  vous  m'avez  adresses.  Main- 
tenant  je  vais  m'occuper  de  les  examiner.  Ces  objets  sont  d'autant 
plus  precieux  quej'en  ai  vu  de  semblables  dans  les  terrains  juras- 
siques  d'Angleterre,  et  que  nous  avons  des  termes  de  comparaison 
precis  pour  les  gisements.  J'ai  regrette  que  mon  absence,  m'a 
privde  du  plaisir  d'assister  a.  la  reunion  de  la  Societe  geologique  du 
Jura,  societe  qui  sera  d'une  grande  utilite  pour  eclaircir  les  questions 
geologiques  de  notre  pays.  [The  meeting  of  this  society,  founded 
by  Thurmann  at  Neuchatel  in  1834,  was  at  Besancon,  in  September, 
1835,  and  it  was  during  the  session  of  Besancon  that  Thurmann  pro- 
posed to  give  the  name  Neoco?nian  to  the  lower  part  of  the  Creta- 
ceous rocks.]  Les  questions  de  mode  de  depositions  des  roches, 
du  role  des  poly  piers,  des  equivalents  geologiques,  de  la  succession 
des  fossiles,  de  leur  apparition  et  de  leur  disparition  sur  la  terre,  des 
soulevements,  etc.,  ne  se  presentent  nulle  part  d\me  maniere  aussi 
engageante  que  chez  nous.  Je  compte  assister  a.  votre  prochaine 
reunion  [that  society  never  met  again,  after  the  Besancon  meeting 
of  1835],  et  je  me  rejouis  de  penser  que  vous  avez  deja  donne  une 
face  nouvelle  a  lV'tude  du  Jura. 


Farther  on  he  adds  :  — 

La  clef  des  Alpes  est  dans  le  Jura  me  repete  M.  Voltz,  et  il  ne 
parait  plus  douteux  h  ce  dernier  que  les  assises  calcaires  superieures 
des  Alpes  [then  called  Alpine  limestone]  sont  la  continuation  imme- 
diate de  notre  terrain  cre'tace,  et  s'il  en  est  ainsi,  on  pourra  paralleliser 
toutes  les  couches  des  Alpes  avec  les  affleurements  des  dirTe'rens 
soulevements  jurassiques. 


1836-38.]  VISIT  TO    CHAMOUNIX.  127 

On  the  day  after  his  return  from  the  Oberland,  he 
again  left  Neuchatel  en  route  for  Chamounix,  taking 
with  him,  besides  his  first  companions,  several  artists 
and  a  young  doctor,  making  a  company  of  ten  persons. 
Their  first  halt  was  at  Bex,  the  Mecca  of  glacialists,  to 
visit  de  Charpentier ;  who,  with  his  usual  generous  hos- 
pitality and  good  nature,  received  the  whole  party  and 
showed  all  the  glacial  remains,  and  even  the  stratig- 
raphy of  the  salt  mines,  giving  most  clear  and  impor- 
tant explanations.  From  Bex  Agassiz  and  his  party 
visited,  on  foot,  the  valley  of  the  Rhone  between  Bex 
and  St.  Maurice,  the  traces  of  the  landslide  of  the  Dent- 
du-Midi,  and  all  the  places  most  remarkable  for  glacial 
action  shown  to  Agassiz  two  years  previously  by  Venetz 
and  de  Charpentier.  Crossing  from  the  Valais  by  Valor- 
sine  to  the  valley  of  Chamounix,  they  visited  the  "  Gla- 
cier des  Bois,"  Montanvert,  and  "la  mer  de  glace," 
whence  they  returned  by  the  Col  de  Balme  to  Bex, 
visiting  on  the  way  the  "Glacier  du  Trient." 

As  soon  as  they  had  returned  to  Neuchatel,  after  a 
week's  absence,  they  started  again,  but  this  time  to  go 
to  the  meeting  of  the  Geological  Society  of  France,  at 
Porrentruy,  the  5th  of  September.  The  meeting,  pre- 
sided over  by  Thurmann,  was  largely  attended  and 
most  important.  The  glacial  question  was  debated  in 
the  most  spirited  way ;  for  de  Charpentier  was  there, 
and  Agassiz,  excited  by  his  presence,  surpassed  himself 
in  trying  to  convert  to  the  new  theory  every  one  pres- 
ent, and  gave  a  vivid  exposition  of  what  he  had  just 
seen  in  the  Bernese  Oberland  and  at  Chamounix.     This 


128  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vi. 

time  he  was  more  successful  than  at  the  meeting  of 
Neuchatel,  the  year  preceding.  His  celebrated  address 
of  1837  had  excited  the  curiosity  of  many  geologists; 
and  some,  like  Captain  Leblanc  of  Montbeliard,  had 
gone  so  far  as  to  find  undeniable  proofs  of  the  existence 
of  ancient  glaciers  among  the  Vosges  Mountains,  proofs 
which  were  presented  before  the  society  as  new  facts 
to  be  added  to  those  of  Venetz,  de  Charpentier,  and 
Agassiz,  observed  in  the  Alps  and  the  Jura.  One  of 
the  first  converts  to  the  glacial  theory  was  the  cele- 
brated d'Omalius  d'Halloy,  who  acted  during  the  meet- 
ing as  vice-president ;  and  Bernard  Studer,  already  well 
known  as  the  geologist  best  informed  in  regard  to  the 
Bernese  Alps,  as  well  as  the  Molasse  of  Switzerland, 
and  until  then  a  most  stout  opponent,  was  compelled 
by  Agassiz's  explanations  and  enthusiasm  to  moderate 
gradually  his  opposition.  As  he  afterwards  said  to  me, 
Agassiz  was  almost  irresistible  in  all  his  explanations, 
having  a  ready  answer  to  all  objections.  Agassiz  pre- 
sented to  the  society,  the  6th  of  September,  his  "  Obser- 
vations sur  les  glaciers,"  in  which,  though  attacked  by 
Studer,  he  was  sustained  by  de  Charpentier,  Hugi,  Max 
Braun,  Leblanc,  Guyot,  and  Renoir.  The  paper  is  one 
of  Agassiz's  best ;  it  was  published  first  in  the  "  Biblio- 
theque  Universelle  de  Geneve,"  Tome  XX.,  p.  382, 
December,  1839,  more  than  a  year  after  its  delivery 
before  the  French  Geological  Society,  and  again  in 
1840,  in  the  "Bulletin  Soc.  Geol.  France,"  Vol.  IX., 
p.  407.  In  it  he  quotes  the  observations  of  Max  Braun 
and  A.  Guyot  on  surfaces  polished  by  ancient  glaciers 


1836-38.]  VISIT  TO  FREIBURG.  129 

near  the  Lake  of  Thun  and  at  Oberwald,  in  the  upper 
part  of  the  Valais.  Guyot  had  added  some  new  facts 
(considerations^)  to  the  observations  of  Agassiz ;  but  he 
did  not  write  a  note  of  what  he  said  after  Agassiz  had 
spoken.  Agassiz's  secretary  was  at  the  meeting ;  for 
we  find  in  the  list  of  persons  present  not  belonging  to 
the  society  "  M.   Desor,  geographe  a  Neuchatel." 

In  an  excursion  of  the  society  from  Soleure  to 
Bienne,  following  the  foot  of  the  Weissenstein,  and  at 
la  Neuveville,  Agassiz  showed  numerous  boulders  and 
rocks  polished  by  glaciers.  De  Charpentier  agreed 
entirely  with  Agassiz,  and  the  majority  of  the  fellows 
of  the  Geological  Society  accepted  the  new  view  and 
the  glacial  theory  as  the  only  possible  explanation  of 
the  phenomena. 

Directly  after  the  meeting  of  the  Geological  Society 
of  France  at  Porrentruy,  Agassiz  left  for  Germany  to 
attend  the  meeting  of  the  Association  of  German  Natu- 
ralists at  Freiburg-im-Breisgau  in  the  Grand  Duchy  of 
Baden.  During  the  sessions,  which  lasted  from  the 
18th  to  the  24th  of  September,  1838,  Agassiz  had  occa- 
sion to  repeat,  with  great  force,  all  the  arguments  relat- 
ing to  glaciers,  the  glacial  doctrine,  and  the  existence  of 
old  glaciers  in  the  Jura,  the  Vosges,  and  the  Schwarz- 
wald.  On  the  25th,  accompanied  by  Prince  Charles 
Lucien  Bonaparte,  and  Professor  and  Mrs.  Buckland, 
he  left  Freiburg  for  Neuchatel. 

At  Neuchatel,  Agassiz  had  his  hands  more  than  full. 
The  lithography  he  had  established,  under  the  direction 
of  H.  Nicolet,  turned  out  splendid  plates  of  fossil  fishes. 

K 


I3o  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vi. 

by  a  new  process  of  printing  in  various  tints  on  different 
stones  ;  what  has  since  been  termed  chromolithography 
or  lithochromy.  Nicolet  had  engaged  at  Paris  a  French 
artist  of  great  ability,  Auguste  Sonrel,  who  managed 
admirably  with  large  plates,  and  succeeded  in  printing 
folio  plates  with  a  remarkable  uniformity  of  colouring, 
as  may  be  seen  in  the  atlas  of  the  "  Poissons  fossiles." 

The  studio  for  moulding,  under  the  direction  of  Stahl, 
a  most  skilful  moulder,  was  actively  at  work  making 
casts  of  the  inside  of  shells  and  of  echinoderms,  and 
also  of  topographical  reliefs  of  the  Jura  Mountains,  by 
Gressly,  to  show  their  geological  structure. 

We  must  at  this  time  mention  an  addition  to  the  staff 
of  employes  under  Agassiz.  There  was  at  the  meeting 
of  the  Swiss  naturalists  at  Neuchatel,  in  1837,  a  very 
odd  kind  of  antediluvian  or  primordial  man,  so  anti- 
quated that  he  seemed  as  if  he  belonged  to  the  Jurassic 
period  and  not  to  our  time ;  very  awkward,  timid,  ex- 
tremely modest,  and  yet  so  learned  in  practical  geology 
that  no  part  of  the  geology  and  palaeontology  of  the  Jura 
had  escaped  his  researches.  He  knew  every  topograph- 
ical feature  of  the  Jura,  every  group  of  strata,  and  almost 
every  kind  of  fossil  remains.  With  great  embarrass- 
ment he  presented  to  Agassiz  a  letter  of  introduction 
from  Jules  Thurmann,  the  great  Jurassic  geologist  of 
the  Bernese  Jura,  by  which  Agassiz  was  informed  that 
the  name  of  the  young  geologist  before  him  was  Armand 
Gressly.  Gressly,  in  the  hurry  of  the  meeting,  did  not 
dare  to  take  from  one  of  his  large  pockets  the  manu- 
script  of    his  "  Observations   geologiques   sur   le   Jura 


1836-38.]  ARM  AND    GRESSLY.  131 

Soleurois,"  but  waited  until  after  the  session  was  over 
to  call  at  Agassiz's  home  and  present  it  for  publication 
in  the  "  Memoires  de  la  Societe  Helvetique  des  Sciences 
Naturelles."  After  reading  the  first  twenty  pages,  Agas- 
siz  promptly  saw  that  it  was  a  paper  of  the  first  order, 
containing  a  quantity  not  only  of  new  materials,  but 
also  of  new  ideas.  In  it  Gressly  proposed  the  theory 
of  fades  or  "  aspect  des  terrains,"  as  he  called  it,  an 
expression  which  has  been  constantly  used  the  world 
over  to  explain  the  different  association  of  species  of 
fossil  form,  according  to  the  deposits  in  which  they  are 
buried,  or  more  exactly  according  to  the  character  of 
the  sea-bottom  on  which  these  animals  had  lived  and 
associated. 

Not  only  was  the  long  memoir  of  Gressly,  with  a 
quantity  of  coloured  sections  and  panoramic  geological 
views,  accepted  by  the  committee  of  publication  of  the 
Swiss  Society,  of  which  Agassiz  was  the  president,  but 
Gressly  was  also  closely  interrogated  and,  as  it  were, 
interviewed  by  Agassiz.  Although  Agassiz  had  already 
met  all  the  leaders  of  geology  and  palaeontology,  and 
a  great  number  of  practical  collectors  of  fossils,  he 
had  never  met  such  a  curiously  original  observer. 
Gressly  possessed  in  a  rare  degree  precisely  what 
Agassiz  wanted,  —  the  ability  to  observe  the  stratig- 
raphy and  to  classify  the  different  groups  of  rocks  of 
a  formation.  Agassiz  saw  at  once  all  the  service  he 
would  get  from  such  a  rare  practical  geologist,  and 
he  offered  to  purchase  his  collection  for  the  young 
Neuchatel    Museum,    just  organized,   and    proposed    to 


1 32  LOUIS  AG  ASS  I Z.  [chap.  vi. 

him  to  go  into  the  field  for  fossils  and  bring  back  all  he 
could  collect,  arranging  the  specimens  by  strata,  clean- 
ing them,  and  further  to  revise  the  practical  geology  of 
all  his  publications  on  fossils.  No  regular  pay  was  to 
be  given,  for  Agassiz's  money  was  already  engaged  to 
defray  more  than  it  could  reasonably  provide  for;  but 
Agassiz  promised  to  provide  his  lodging  and  board,  to 
pay  his  travelling  expenses,  and  to  give  him  money  when 
wanted  for  his  personal  needs,  if  at  such  times  Agassiz 
had  any.  In  a  word,  it  was  the  same  unbusiness-like 
arrangement  which  Agassiz  used  almost  all  his  life,  and 
which  was  a  constant  source  of  difficulty  with  all  his 
assistants.  With  Gressly  the  arrangement  was  perfectly 
satisfactory,  and,  strange  to  say,  he  was  the  only  one 
who  never  gave  any  trouble  to  Agassiz.  But  Gressly 
was  so  easily  contented,  so  timid,  and  had  so  few  wants, 
that  he  was  the  cheapest  savant  imaginable  to  support. 
A  few  details  will  give  an  idea  of  the  man  and  his 
very  limited  requirements.  Agassiz  had  to  pay  for  his 
lodging,  which  consisted  of  a  small  bedroom,  poorly 
furnished,  and  which  soon  became  a  true  pandemonium 
of  the  most  sordid  kind.  He  boarded  when  in  Neu- 
chatel  at  a  third-rate  inn  called  Le  Poisson,  kept  by  the 
sister  of  the  artist  Jacques  Burkhardt.  When  travelling 
—  always  on  foot  —  there  was  even  less  expense ;  for 
Gressly  entered  the  first  farm  on  his  road,  and  asked  for 
food  and  lodging.  He  had  already  roamed  all  over  the 
Swiss  Jura  Mountains  to  make  the  observations  which 
had  resulted  in  his  excellent  "  Observations  geologiques 
sur  le  Jura  Soleurois,"  and  was  well  known  personally 
or  by  reputation  by  almost  all  the  country  people,  who 


1836-38.]  ARMAND    GRESSLY.  133 

always  received  him  kindly,  giving  him  a  place  at  their 
table  and  a  bed  to  sleep  in  —  or  more  exactly  on;  for  he 
slept  with  his  clothes  on,  even  with  his  shoes  on.  The 
farmers  liked  Gressly  extremely,  because  he  not  only 
told  good  stories,  but  also  gave  good  advice  for  finding 
springs,  digging  wells,  and  he  indicated  good  places 
for  marls  and  clays  used  in  agriculture,  and  for  stone 
quarries.  Like  a  child,  as  he  was  all  his  life,  he  played 
with  the  children,  making  cocks  and  boats  and  dancing 
frogs  out  of  pieces  of  old  almanacs  or  newspapers. 
As  an  example  of  his  cheap  way  of  travelling,  he 
once  started  with  a  small  sum  of  money  in  his  pocket, 
then  he  forgot  that  he  had  any  money,  and  remained 
two  or  even  three  months  without  spending  a  penny, 
going  from  farm  to  farm,  and  returned  loaded  with 
the  most  splendid  and  rare  fossils.  And  when  asked 
why  he  had  stayed  so  long  without  writing,  — 
"Why!"  said  he,  "you  forgot  to  give  me  any  money, 
and  I  was  obliged  to  do  as  well  as  I  could  with  my 
friends  the  pay  sans,  who  generously  gave  me  board  and 
lodging  as  I  went  along;  a  slow  process,"  he  added, 
"which  took  much  of  my  time."  "  But,  Gressly,  I  gave 
you  some  money  before  you  started,  and  I  saw  you,  if 
I  remember  rightly,  put  it  in  that  pocket,"  indicating 
the  pocket.  Gressly  put  his  hand  in  his  pocket,  and 
brought  out  the  gold  pieces  which  had  been  there,  tor- 
gotten,  ever  since  he  started  two  months  before. 

As  to  clothes  and  linen,  he  was  even  more  indiffer- 
ent; with  the  exception  of  two  pairs  of  strong  shoes, 
a  knapsack  to  put  his  specimens  in,  and  a  medium- 
sized  geological  hammer,  everything  was  of  the  cheapest 


i34  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vi. 

kind.  He  carried  no  change  of  clothing,  but  added 
shirt  upon  shirt,  whenever  he  received  a  new  one ;  and 
instead  of  appearing  the  rather  slender  man  that  he 
was,  he  gradually  assumed  the  appearance  of  a  very 
large  and  bulky  workman.  Indeed,  he  was  constantly 
taken  for  a  quarryman  or  a  mason. 

It  was  Gressly  who  collected  all  the  materials  for 
Agassiz's  Monograph  of  the  Mya  and  Trigouia,  and 
also  the  majority  of  species  of  fossil  echinoderms  used 
by  Agassiz  in  his  works  on  that  family  of  sea-urchins, 
and  he  also  collected  almost  all  the  Jurassic  and  Neo- 
comian  fossil  fishes. 

Agassiz  was  not  a  business  man,  but  he  had  found  in 
Gressly  one  even  less  able  to  care  for  money  matters, 
so  they  lived  in  perfect  harmony.  But  sickness  came 
to  Gressly,  who,  after  rallying,  ended  his  life  prema- 
turely, at  the  age  of  fifty-one,  in  an  insane  asylum  at 
the  Waldau,  near  Berne.  Gressly's  admiration  and 
respect  for  Agassiz  lasted  as  long  as  his  mind  was 
not  obscured. 

It  has  been  said  that  Desor  wrote  a  large  part  of 
the  "  Observations  geologiques  sur  le  Jura  Soleurois," 
and  that  Gressly  was  a  pupil  of  Agassiz ;  but  this  is 
altogether  a  mistake.  The  manuscript  of  Gressly  was 
written  during  1836  and  1837,  m  the  library  of  Thur- 
mann  at  Porrentruy.  Thurmann  was  constantly  asked 
for  help,  which  was  always  readily  given,  and  read  over 
and  corrected  all  the  rather  numerous  Germanisms  in 
the  French  of  Gressly.  When  Gressly  started  from 
Porrentruy  to  go  to  Neuchatel,  he  carried  with  him  his 
manuscript,    which    was    delivered   into    the    hands    of 


1836-38.]  BOURGEOIS  DE  NEUCHATEL.  135 

Agassiz  in  July,  1837,  three  months  before  Desor  came 
to  Neuchatel,  and  before  the  name  of  Desor  had  been 
heard  "by  either  Gressly  or  Agassiz.  To  be  sure,  Gressly 
did  learn  some  palaeontology  during  his  stay  with  Agas- 
siz, and  felt  his  influence ;  but  Gressly  above  all  was  a 
practical  geologist  and  a  practical  palaeontologist,  who 
learned  all  he  knew  of  those  two  sciences,  as  he  him- 
self told  me,  from  Professor  Voltz  of  Strasbourg,  and 
more  especially  from  Thurmann ;  and  he  always  called 
himself  the  pupil  of  Thurmann. 

In  1838,  two  events  of  interest  to  Agassiz  happened 
in  Neuchatel :  first,  his  unanimous  election  by  the  coun- 
sellors of  the  city  as  "  Bourgeois  de  Neuchatel,"  and 
the  second,  the  foundation  of  the  Academy.  We  read 
in  the  Manuals  of  the  Council  of  Neuchatel,  kept  at  the 
City  Hall,  the  following  deliberation,  April,  1838:  "M. 
le  maitre  bourgeois  en  chef  rappelle  les  services  consi- 
derables que  M.  Jean-Rodolphe-Louis  Agassiz,  originaire 
d'Orbe  et  de  Bavois,  canton  de  Vaud,  professeur  d'his- 
toire  naturelle,  rend  a  la  Bourgeoisie  et  au  Pays  en 
general  par  l'application  qu'il  fait  de  ses  vastes  connais- 
sances  a  l'enseignement  public  et  par  le  lustre  que  sa 
reputation  universelle  repand  sur  notre  patrie  et  sur  la 
ville  de  Neuchatel  en  particulier,  a  laquelle  il  donne  des 
preuves  du  plus  sincere  attachement,  ayant  refuse  des 
offres  avantageuses  et  reiterees  de  places  dans  les  can- 
tons voisins  et  dans  les  premieres  universites  de  1' Eu- 
rope. Des  merites  aussi  distingues  ont  determine  MM. 
les  Quatre-Ministraux  a  proposer  au  Conseil  de  faire 
attribuer  a  ce  savant,  que  deja  le  Gouvernement  a  natu- 
ralise sujet  de  cet  Etat,  la  qualite  de  Bourgeois  de  Neur 


1 36  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vi. 

cliatcl,  et  cela  a  titre  gratuit.  Sur  quoi  par  deliberation 
consultative,  le  Conseil  a  unanimement  approuve  la  pro- 
position, et  a  la  meme  unanimite  il  a  confirme  cette  de- 
liberation an  scrutin  pour  etre  soumise  a  la  ratification 
de  la  communaute."  The  title  of  "  Bourgeois  de  Neu- 
chitel"  was  more  than  merely  honorary,  for  it  carried 
with  it  pecuniary  benefits,  and  is  very  seldom  conferred 
gratuitously. 

The  king  of  Prussia,  Frederick  William,  by  an  order 
to  his  Secretary  of  State,  dated  Berlin,  March  17,  1838, 
gave  for  ten  years  ten  thousand  louis  to  develop  public 
instruction  in  Neuchatel,  and  Agassiz  was  confirmed  as 
professor  of  natural  history;  he  did  not  receive  his  di- 
ploma, however,  until  1840,  for  two  years  passed  before 
the  Academy  was  finally  organized.  Arnold  Guyot  was 
invited  to  deliver  a  course  of  lectures  on  geography,  a 
year  later,  1839-1840,  and  Dubois  de  Montperreux,  the 
Caucase  traveller,  also  delivered  lectures  on  archaeology. 
For  a  small  town  and  small  canton,  as  Neuchatel  was 
then,  the  creation  of  an  academy  was  a  great  occurrence, 
and  did  honour  both  to  the  prince  of  Neuchatel,  king 
of  Prussia,  and  to  the  City  Council  of  Neuchatel. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

i 839- i 840. 

Agassiz's  Scientific  Activity  ;  the  Help  rendered  by  his  Secretary 
Desor — An  Interesting  Business  Letter  to  Pictet — Dispute  with 
Edward  Charlesworth  about  the  French  and  German  Transla- 
tion of  Sowerby's  "  Mineral  Conchology"  —  Visit  to  the  Monte 
Rosa  and  the  Matterhorn  — The  Geologist  Voltz  of  Strasbourg 
—  Studer's  Conversion  to  the  Glacial  Doctrine  —  Old  Glaciers 
in  the  Vosges  —  Search  on  the  Glacier  of  the  Aar  for  Hugi's 
old  Cabin  —  Karl  Vogt's  Arrival  as  Assistant  to  Agassiz  — The 
Household  and  Laboratory  of  Agassiz  at  Neuchatel —  The 
"  echinodermes  fossiles  de  la  suisse  "  —  "  etudes  sur  les  gla- 
CIERS " —  The  "Essai  sur  les  Glaciers,"  by  de  Charpentier  — 
Letter  of  Agassiz  to  de  Charpentier  —  The  "Hotel  des  Neu- 
chatelois"  on  the  aar  glacier  —  vlsit  of  mrs.  agassiz  and 
Alexander  to  the  Glacier  —  Journey  to  England — The  Glacial 
Theory  in  England  —  Agassiz's  Discovery  of  Ancient  Glaciers 
in  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  England  —  Letter  to  Humboldt. 

The  scientific  activity  of  Agassiz  during  1839  was 
something  unique  in  the  history  of  •  natural  history 
researches.  His  secretary,  Desor,  had  made  such 
progress  under  the  direction  and  teaching  of  Agassiz, 
that  he  began  to  be  useful  in  original  scientific  observa- 
tions. With  a  remarkable  capacity  and  a  marvellous 
elasticity  of  mind,  Desor,  in  less  than  two  years,  had 
learned  enough  of  all  the  branches  of  natural  history 
cultivated  by   Agassiz  to  be  already  helpful,  not  only 

137 


i3S  LOUIS  AGASSJZ.  [chap.  vii. 

in  writing  under  the  dictation  of  Agassiz,  but  also  in 
using  his  own  gifts  in  description  of  species  and  notes 
on  the  glacial  question.  As  Vogt  says:  "Desor  jusqu'a 
son  arrivce  chez  Agassiz,  ignorait  et  etait  presque  com- 
pletement  Stranger  a  toutes  les  branches  d'histoire 
naturelle.  Infatigable  au  travail,  Desor  etait  en  raeme 
temps  un  compagnon  aimable  et  devoue,  ayant  toujours 
le  mot  pour  rire  et  maniant  avec  bonhommie  la  plai- 
santerie  et  meme  l'ironie  gracieuse."  1 

The  notes  to  be  used  in  preparing  the  "  Etudes  sur 
les  glaciers '  were  put  in  order  by  Desor ;  in  addition, 
he  corrected  all  the  proofs  of  the  "  Poissons  fossiles," 
the  "  Echinodermes  de  la  Suisse,"  the  "  Memoire  sur 
les  Trigonies,"  and  the  "  Observations  geologiques  sur 
le  Jura  Soleurois,"  and  began  work  on  the"  Catalogue 
of  all  Books,  Tracts,  and  Memoirs  on  Zoology  and 
Geology,"  the  "  Catalogus  systematicus  ectyporum 
Echinodermatum  fossilium  Musei  neocomensis,"  and 
finally  at  the  "  Nomenclator  Zoologicus." 

Agassiz  gave  all  his  assistants  so  much  to  do  that  it 
was  impossible  to  keep  pace  with  his  eager  desire  and 
ardour  for  scientific  publication.  When  we  remember 
that  it  was  in  a  small  town  of  six  thousand  inhabitants 
that  such  publications  were  all  started  simultaneously  by 
the  invincible  will  of  one  man,  and  that  all  these  great 
undertakings  required  not  only  steady  and  hard  work  but 
also  time  and  money,  —  for  Agassiz  from  that  day  pub- 
lished everything,  with  very  few  exceptions,  "  aux  frais  de 
l'auteur,"  —  it  is  almost  incredible.     We  have  no  exam- 

1  "  Discours  a  l'lnstitut  National  Genevois,"  le  23  Mai,  1882. 


1839-40.]  LETTER    TO  1TCTET.  139 

pie  of  such  impulse  given  to  natural  history  anywhere, 
even  in  such  great  scientific  centres  as  Paris  or  London. 
His  generous  spirit  can  be  understood  by  reading  the 
following  extract  from  a  letter  to  his  friend,  Jules  Pictet 
de  la  Rive,  dated  Neuchatel,  March  10,  1839:  — 

Je  suis  egalement  bien  rejoui  de  pouvoir  vous  montrer  que 
quoiqu'editeur  force  de  mes  publications,  cfest  uniquement  le  de-sir 
d'etre  utile  qui  me  guide  vis-a-vis  de  mes  collegues  qui  ddsirent 
acquerir  mes  ouvrages.  Pour  les  Poissons  fossiles,  je  vous  les 
cederai  volontiers  au  tiers  au-dessous  du  prix  que  les  libraires  y 
mettent,  c'est-a-dire  a  24  francs  la  livraison,  au  lieu  de  36,  ce  qui 
est  a  peu  pres  le  prix  auquel  elle  me  revient.  Veuillez  des  lors  me 
faire  savoir  si  je  dois  vous  en  adresser  un  exemplaire.  Des  que 
j'aurai  calcule  exactement  le  cout  des  "  Poissons  d'eau  douce,11  je 
vous  ferai  savoir  aussi  quelle  remise  je  pourrai  vous  faire  sur  cet 
ouvrage.  II  va  sans  dire  que  ce  iVest  qu'aux  savants,  qui  me  de- 
mandent  mes  livres  pour  eux-memes  que  je  peux  et  que  je  veux 
faire  le  sacrifice  de  toutes  les  peines  que  reclament  des  publications 
de  ce  genre. 

Generosity  in  this  case  was  certainly  not  well  placed ; 
for  Pictet  was  a  well-to-do  man  in  a  pecuniary  posi- 
tion far  superior  to  Agassiz's,  and  might  easily  have 
afforded  to  subscribe  at  the  full  price.  But  Agassiz 
did  not  know  how  to  discriminate  between  those  who 
deserved  to  be  helped  and  those  whose  means  were 
such  that  a  subscription  to  a  costly  work  was  not  a 
"  sacrifice,"  but  simply  a  scientific  duty. 

About  this  time  occurred,  for  the  first  time,  a  dis- 
agreeable difficulty  which  confronted  Agassiz  more  than 
once  during  his  life.  Without  asking  permission,  or  even 
making  his  intention  known,  he  had  begun  a  French  and 
a  German  translation  of  the  "  Mineral  Conchology  of 


i4o  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

Great  Britain."  The  Sowerby  brothers,  who  were  the 
authors  and  publishers  of  this  costly  work,  thought  the 
proceeding  a  little  too  high-handed ;  and  the  editor  of 
"  The  Magazine  of  Natural  History,"  Edward  Charles- 
worth,  published  a  rather  sharp  article  in  the  May  num- 
ber (Vol.  III.,  p.  254,  London,  1839),  in  which  he  calls  it 
a  "  piracy  upon  the  literary  production  of  English  natu- 
ralists," and  adds,  "  Agassiz  has  met  with  the  most  cordial 
support  on  all  sides,  and  in  various  ways,  from  the  culti- 
vators of  science  in  this  country ;  and,  although  it  may 
appear  harsh  thus  to  express  ourselves,  we  do  not  hesi- 
tate openly  to  declare  our  conviction  that  in  editing  a 
transcript  in  the  French  language  of  the  '  Mineral  Con- 
chology  of  Great  Britain,'  its  author  cannot  be  said  to 
have  really  promoted  the  objects  of  science,  still  less  to 
have  added  to  his  own  reputation." 

Agassiz  promptly  answered,  in  an  autograph  letter 
addressed  to  all  his  correspondents  and  subscribers,  and 
reproduced  in  French  and  also  in  English  in  No.  31  of 
the  "  Magazine  of  Natural  History"  (Vol.  III.,  p.  356), 
entitled,  "  Lettre  ecrite  par  M.  Ls.  Agassiz  a  M.  Ed. 
Charlesworth,  en  reponse  a  une  article  insere  dans  le  No. 
29  du  'Magazine  of  Natural  History.'"  In  this  Agassiz 
says,  "  The  assertions  and  insinuations  of  the  article  are 
altogether  malicious  and  without  foundation.  .  .  .  The 
knowledge  which  I  possess  of  the  most  important 
European  scientific  publications  has  assured  me  that  a 
French  or  German  edition  of  the  work,  published  at 
lower  price  (one-fourth  the  cost  of  the  original  work), 
would  be  rendering  a  real  service  to  science,  without  in 
any  way  proving  injurious  to  the  original  edition,  for 


1839-40.]     DISPUTE   WITH   CHARLESWORTH.  141 

which  the  principal  demand  is  in  England.  Would  it 
then  not  be  unfair  to  represent  such  a  publication  as  a 
systematic  piracy ;  as  though  translations  of  scientific 
works  were  not  being  made  every  day  with  the  consent 
of  the  authors  ?  "  Yes  ;  but  unfortunately  Agassiz  had 
failed  to  get  that  consent  from  Sowerby's  sons,  the  col- 
laborators and  finishers  of  the  "  Mineral  Conchology." 
There  lay  the  mistake.  Agassiz  adds :  "  I  affirm  that 
the  insinuation  of  my  having  entered  upon  this  under- 
taking with  a  view  to  pecuniary  emolument,  to  be  alto- 
gether unfounded.  (  On  the  contrary,  only  three  hundred 
copies  have  been  struck  off,  and  I  agreed  with  the  editor, 
as  the  price  of  my  participation  in  it,  that  the  work 
should  not  be  sold  at  a  sum  above  that  necessary  to 
cover  the  expense  of  its  publication."  In  regard  to 
his  own  "  Poissons  fossiles,"  he  says,  "  I  shall  esteem 
myself  fortunate  to  see  the  work  translated  in  whatever 
shape  it  may  appear."  Charlesworth  rejoined,  reiter- 
ating all  his  previous  criticisms,  and  adding  others ; 
and  finally,  James  De  Carle  Sowerby  wrote  a  letter,  the 
27th  July,  1839,  also  inserted  in  the  "  Magazine  of 
Natural  History,"  Vol.  III.,  p.  418,  in  which  he  ap- 
proved the  strictness  of  Charlesworth,  and  suggested 
that  some  protection  be  afforded,  at  least  by  their 
brotlicr  authors,  to  those  who  make  original  and  costly 
publications.  It  seems  from  his  letter  that  the  "  sale 
of  the  'Mineral  Conchology'  has  only  been  about  four 
hundred  copies,  above  one-fourth  of  which  number 
have  been  sent  abroad.  The  encouragement,  there- 
fore, for  carrying  on  the  work  has  hitherto  been  not 
very  great." 


142  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

Agassiz,  from  the  start  of  his  lithographic  establish- 
ment, under  the  direction  of  H.  Nicolet,  was  very 
anxious  to  procure  works  sufficient  to  keep  it  running  all 
the  time,  without  too  great  pecuniary  loss.  His  inten- 
tion was  good,  and  he  began  the  two  translations  in 
French  and  German  with  the  hope  of  helping  that 
numerous  class  of  observers  of  limited  means  on  the 
continent  of  Europe,  to  whom  Sowerby's  original  Eng- 
lish edition  was  inaccessible  on  account  of  its  great  cost. 
I  myself  saw  a  few  years  after,  when  Agassiz's  transla- 
tions were  hardly  finished,  how  useful  they  were  to 
French  and  German  geologists,  and  they  really  helped 
the  progress  of  science  in  Central  Europe.  The  only 
error,  and  it  was  inexcusable,  was  his  undertaking  the 
work  without  having  previously  obtained  permission 
from  the  two  sons  of  Sowerby,  who  wrote  the  principal 
part  of  the  text,  and  finally  engraved  also  the  plates, 
after  the  death  of  their  father  in  1822.  Pecuniarily  the 
enterprise  was  a  great  loss  to  Agassiz,  for  after  a  few 
years,  Nicolet  failed,  and  Agassiz  had  to  take  the  whole 
business  into  his  own  hands.  Neither  of  the  transla- 
tions sold  well,  and  other  more  important  works  on  the 
palaeontology  of  France  and  Germany  soon  appeared 
and  blocked  the  way.  Among  these  were  the  "  Paleon- 
tologie  francaise,"  by  Alcide  d'Orbigny,  and  the  "  Petre- 
factenkunde  von  Deutsland,"  by  Quenstedt,  which  not 
only  attracted  attention,  but  from  the  start  were  pay- 
ing works,  —  a  mark  of  success  which  was  never  to  be 
granted  to  Agassiz  during  his  stay  in  Europe.  After- 
wards Agassiz  very  seldom  referred  to  these  two  trans- 
lations;  it  was  a  painful  subject,  and  he  confessed  that 


1S39-40.]  EDWARD  FORBES.  143 

it  was  an  error  which  cost  him  time,  money,  and,  what 
is  of  more  value,  reputation  among  some  of  the  English 
naturalists.  However,  he  retained  the  friendship  of  all 
the  leaders  in  England,  and  it  is  refreshing  to  read  such 
remarks  as  the  following:  "His  [Agassiz's]  knowledge 
of  natural  history  surprises  me  the  more  I  know  of  him, 
and  he  has  that  love  of  imparting  it,  and  that  power  of 
doing  it  with  clearness,  which  makes  one  feel  one  is 
getting  on,  and  that  one  has  caught  his  enthusiasm  ' 
(Life  of  Charles  Lyell,  Vol.  I.,  p.  457).  "We  are  great 
friends,"  Edward  Forbes  wrote,  after  the  conclusion  of 
the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  at  Glasgow,  "and 
were  together  all  the  Association  week.  I  expect  him 
here  on  the  21st  October;  he  is  to  work  over  my  species 
with  me,  so  as  to  avoid  useless  synonyms.  .  .  .  We 
worked  over  the  synonyms,  freely  telling  all  he  [Agas- 
siz]  knew,  and  confessing  all  he  did  not  know.  .  .  .  He 
also  gave  in  to  my  classification  of  the  Echinodermata, 
admitting  the  Ophiuridse  as  a  group  equivalent  to  the 
starfishes,  and  granting  that  the  Sipunculidae  are  Radi- 
ata  "  (Memoir  of  Edward  Forbes,  pp.  263,  264). 

At  the  beginning  of  August,  1839,  Agassiz  went  to 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  Helvetic  Society  of  Natural 
Sciences  at  Berne,  where  discussion  on  the  glacial  ques- 
tion continued  to  attract  attention.  Studer,  who  pre- 
sided over  the  society  that  year,  proposed  to  Agassiz  to 
go  with  him  to  see  the  glaciers  of  Monte  Rosa  and  the 
Matterhorn  in  Valais.  The  party,  composed  of  seven 
persons,  six  naturalists  and  an  artist,  Bettannier,  started 
from  Berne  the  9th  of  August,  1839,  passing  by  Kander- 
steg  to  see  its  beautiful  old  moraine,  already  celebrated, 


144  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

through  the  agency  of  Professor  G.  Bischoff  of  Bonn, 
who  had  announced  its  peculiarity,  and  by  the  Gemmi 
Pass  to  the  bath  of  Loueche.  Here  they  met  the  great 
geologist,  Professor  Voltz  of  Strasbourg,  and  a  most 
delightful  evening  was  passed  in  his  company.  With 
such  savants  as  Agassiz,  Studer,  Lardy  of  Lausanne, 
Xicolet  of  La  Chaux-de-Fonds,  and  Voltz,  it  is  easy  to 
imagine  the  interest  of  the  geological  subjects  which 
they  debated  until  almost  daybreak.  Studer  and  Lardy 
had  been  at  work  for  several  years  on  the  geology  of 
the  Grand  St.  Bernard,  and  other  Valaisan  localities 
of  the  vicinity,  and  Voltz,  who  was  second  only  to  Alex- 
andre Brongniart,  the  founder  of  correlation  of  strata, 
by  means  of  the  fossils,  had  worked  hard  at  the  age  of 
several  groups  of  rather  puzzling  Alpine  strata,  more 
especially  the  enigmatic  "  Poudingue  de  Valorsine,"  and 
his  works  on  the  Vosges,  the  Alsace,  and  the  Jura 
Mountains  laid  the  basis  of  all  that  has  been  done  there 
since.  He  was  the  teacher  of  such  great  geologists  as 
Thirria,  Thurmann,  and  Gressly,  and  the  creator  of  the 
Palaeontological  Museum  at  Strasbourg  —  at  that  time 
one  of  the  richest  in  Central  Europe.  He  was,  beside,  a 
most  interesting  talker,  full  of  all  the  socialistic  theories 
of  the  time,  Saint  Simonian  and  Phalansterian,  as  well 
as  an  ardent  republican  and  a  friend  of  all  political 
refugees,  from  whatever  nation  they  came.  Alas !  it 
was  for  Voltz  one  of  his  last  opportunities  to  meet  the 
geological  friends  who  were  so  congenial  to  him,  for  he 
died  a  few  months  after,1  regretted  by  all  who  had  the 

1  Philippe  Louis  Voltz,  born  in  Strasbourg  the  1 4th  August,  1784;   died 
in  Paris  the  15th  January,  1840. 


1839-40.]  STUDER  AT  ZERMATT.  145 

good  fortune  to  know  him,  and  by  none  more  than  by 
Agassiz. 

From  Loueche  to  Zermatt,  "  roches  moutonnees ' 
and  polished  boulders  and  moraines  were  met  in  abun- 
dance, more  especially  near  Zermatt.  At  that  time 
there  was  no  hotel  of  any  kind  at  Zermatt,  and  the 
party  found  lodging  and  board  at  the  house  of  the 
physician  of  the  St.  Nicolas  valley.  Tourists  had 
not  yet  discovered  Zermatt,  and  with  the  exception  of 
a  few  botanists  and  zoologists,  no  one  ever  came  to 
these  remote  parts  of  the  Valaisan  Alps.  When  on 
the  Riffel,  Studer,  who  until  then  had  opposed  the 
glacial  theory  and  had  explained  every  erratic  phenom- 
enon by  mud  currents,  was  at  last  convinced ;  his 
only  remaining  objection,  after  admitting  ancient  glac- 
iers, being  that  he  feared  the  consequences.  See- 
ing a  vertical  wall  of  serpentine  finely  polished,  he 
asked  the  guide  to  what  that  phenomenon  was  due. 
The  guide,  who  had  not  the  smallest  interest  in  the 
glacial  question,  answered  with  great  na'ivctc,  that  in 
the  country  (le  pays)  everybody  thought  that  it  was 
made  by  the  glacier,  adding:  "It  is  true  that  no 
inhabitant  of  the  village  remembers  to  have  seen  the 
glacier  in  this  place,  but  it  was  there  formerly,  for  it 
is  always  in  this  way  that  the  glaciers  wear  away  the 
rocks."  With  great  honesty  Bernard  Studer,  who  had 
been  one  of  the  stoutest  opponents  of  the  views  of 
Venetz,  de  Charpentier,  and  Agassiz,  confessed  his 
errors  in  a  "  Notice  sur  quelques  phenomenes  de 
l'epoque  diluvienne "  ("Bull.  Soc.  Geol.  France,"  Vol. 
XL,  p.  49.      Meeting  of  the  2d  December.  1839,  Paris). 


1 46  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

This  conversion  of  such  a  prominent  alpine  geologist 
induced  many  other  Swiss  geologists,  who,  until  then, 
had  hesitated  to  adopt  the  glacial  theory  as  proposed 
by  Venetz  and  de  Charpentier,  —  a  theory  which  was 
extended  by  Agassiz  to  embrace  almost  the  whole  of 
the  Northern  Hemisphere.  It  was  a  great  gain,  due 
mainly  to  Agassiz  ;  and  from  that  day  no  more  serious 
objections  were  made  in  Switzerland. 

Curiously  enough,  directly  after  the  reading  of 
Studer's  paper,  Renoir  of  Belfort  published  a  most 
important  paper  on  the  glaciers  of  the  southern  part 
of  the  Vosges.  In  it  he  declared  that  when  Captain 
Le  Blanc  of  the  French  Engineer  Corps,  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the  society  at  Porrentruy  in  1838,  announced 
the  existence  of  old  moraines  in  the  Vosges,  he  dis- 
believed him ;  but  started  at  once  for  the  valley  of  St. 
Amarin  as  soon  as  the  meeting  was  over,  and  to  his 
astonishment  found  there  proofs  of  all  the  glacial  phe- 
nomena as  established  by  Venetz,  de  Charpentier,  and 
Agassiz.1 

The  proofs  given  by  Professor  Renoir,  as  well  as  the 
argument  advanced  by  Captain  Le  Blanc,  left  no  further 
doubt  as  to  the  existence  of  glaciers  during  the  Quater- 
nary period  in  the  Vosges,  and  Professor  Fargeaud  of 
Strasbourg  had  extended  his  observations  on  ancient 
glaciers  even  to  the  Black  Forest  of  Baden,  and  to  the 
Pyrenees.  So  promptly  did  Agassiz's  prophecy  in 
the    address    at   Neuchatel    in    1837    receive    confirma- 

1  Note  sur  les  glaciers  qui  ont  recouvert  anciennement  la  partie  meri- 
dionale  de  la  chaine  des  Vosges  ("  Bull.  Soc.  Geol.  France,"  Vol.  XL,  p.  53, 
Paris) . 


1 839-40-]  HUGPS  CABIN.  147 

tion  beyond  the  Alps.  After  leaving  Zermatt,  and  on 
an  excursion  to  Mont  Cervin,  Agassiz  and  his  party 
visited  the  glacier  of  Aletsch,  the  greatest  of  all  the 
Alps,  with  its  Merjelen  (Meril)  lake,  unique  in  Switzer- 
land ;  then  the  glacier  of  the  Rhone,  and  afterward 
the  Grimsel  again.  Agassiz,  desirous  to  see  the  place 
where  the  monk  Hugi  of  Soleure,  some  years  previ- 
ously, had  established  a  cabin  on  the  glacier  of  the  Aar, 
took  a  guide  at  the  Grimsel  and  ascended  the  valley  of 
the  Ober-Aar.  After  a  rather  exhausting  walk  over 
the  glacier  for  three  hours,  the  guide  showed  a  well- 
preserved  cabin  on  the  median  moraine  close  by  an 
enormous  granite  boulder.  In  this  they  found  a  bottle 
containing  several  papers,  one  of  which  informed  them 
that,  in  1827,  Hugi  constructed  a  dry-walled  cabin  with 
a  floor  of  hay,  and  from  a  second  paper,  also  written  by 
Hugi,  they  learned  that  he  had  visited  his  cabin  again 
the  22d  of  August,  1836,  and  found  that  it  had 
descended  the  glacier  2028  feet  since  it  was  built  in 
1827.  Agassiz  was  much  impressed  by  this  discovery 
of  Hugi's  cabin  and  its  motion,  and  he  then  resolved 
to  return  the  next  year  and  imitate  Hugi  in  order  to 
continue  his  researches  on  glaciers. 

During  the  excursion  Joseph  Bettannier,  who  was 
a  good  landscape  artist,  made  several  very  exact  draw- 
ings of  the  glaciers  round  Zermatt,  Monte  Rosa,  Viesch. 
Finelen,  Aletsch  with  its  lake,  St.  Theodule,  and  Aar 
with  Hugi's  cabin,  to  be  used  for  an  atlas  to  accompany 
the  "  Etudes  sur  les  glaciers." 

Agassiz  returned  to  Neuchatel  at  the  end  of  August. 
Soon  after,  an  important  change  was  made  in  the  house- 


i48  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  VII. 

hold  involving  an  important  addition  to  it.  Young  Karl 
Vogt,  just  graduated  doctor  from  a  German  university, 
arrived  on  the  last  day  of  August,  as  had  been  agreed 
two  years  previously  in  October,  1837,  when  Agassiz 
was  visiting  his  father  at  Berne.  Karl  was  to  help  Agas- 
siz in  his  publication  and  researches  touching  fossil  and 
living  fishes,  and  new  arrangements  became  necessary 
to  meet  the  increase  of  expenses.  Never  practical,  and 
becoming  more  and  more  accustomed  to  gather  round 
him  as  many  assistants  and  social  companions  as  he 
could,  Agassiz  could  find  no  better  way  to  diminish  his 
expenses  than  to  give  Desor  and  Vogt  their  board  at 
his  own  table ;  Desor  already  had  a  room  in  the  house, 
and  another  near  by  was  taken  for  Vogt.  In  this  way 
Vogt  and  Desor  became  members  of  his  family,  their 
board  and  lodging  being  entirely  at  Agassiz's  expense. 
As  to  salary,  nothing  was  stipulated;  but  when  they 
wanted  money  they  had  to  ask  for  it,  and  if  Agassiz 
had  any,  which  was  more  and  more  rare,  he  gave  them 
some.  At  first  the  new  arrangement  worked  very  well. 
Agassiz  had  company  at  his  meals,  which  was  always 
a  great  pleasure  to  him,  for  he  was  delighted  to  be 
surrounded  by  brilliant  and  intelligent,  especially 
scientific  people.  Agassiz's  mother,  who  was  visiting 
him  at  this  time  while  his  wife  was  in  Carlsruhe,  was 
a  capital  housekeeper,  with  much  dignity  of  manner, 
and  accustomed  to  keep  every  one  in  his  place  with- 
out allowing  the  slightest  encroachment  or  too  much 
familiarity. 

Karl  Vogt  in   his  twenties  was  a  character  seldom 


1839-40.]  KARL    VOGT.  149 

met  with.  Tall  and  very  corpulent  for  his  age,  his 
movements  were  rather  heavy  and  somewhat  awk- 
ward. He  was  inclined  to  see  the  comical  side  of 
everything,  and  his  remarks  were  all  tinged  with  rid- 
icule. As  soon  as  he  entered  Neuchatel,  he  was  saluted 
by  the  nickname  "Le  Moutz"  {Mutz  in  the  dialect 
of  Berne),  a  popular  character  well  known  all  over 
Switzerland,  and  personifying  the  Bernese  bear;  and 
the  name  clung  to  him  during  his  five  years'  stay  at 
Neuchatel. 

Vogt's  "bon  mots"  soon  became  proverbial,  and 
his  laughter  was  very  infectious;  so  much  so  that  he 
would  have  started  a  Quaker  meeting  into  uproarious 
merriment,  and  obliged  a  community  of  Trappists 
to  break  their  vows  of  eternal  seriousness  and  self- 
control. 

The  reverse  of  the  medal  will  appear  by  and  by.  For 
the  present  Vogt  made  himself  as  amiable  and  accept- 
able as  possible.  Desor,  who  was  always  imitating 
some  one  or  something,  adopted  the  same  attitude,  and 
pushed  his  desire  to  please  so  far,  that  he  even  accom- 
panied Agassiz's  mother  to  the  place  of  worship,  — 
quite  an  event  for  a  proclaimed  atheist.  The  German 
language  was  used  exclusively  at  table  and  in  the 
laboratory ;  and  to  a  visitor  Agassiz's  establishment  at 
this  time  of  his  life  seemed  a  German  settlement  trans- 
ferred into  French  Switzerland. 

Vogt  describes  his  first  meeting  with  Gressly  in  the 
following  manner:  "During  the  fall  (1839)  Gressly 
came.     Great    was    my    astonishment    when     I    heard 


1 5o  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

Desor  apostrophize  the  little  vagabond1  as  soon  as 
he  entered  into  the  laboratory:  'But,  Gressly,  go  out 
directly  and  get  washed;  after  that  I  will  make  you 
acquainted  with  Yogt.  '  Gressly  with  his  sympathetic 
nature,  his  good  temper,  his  many  eccentricities,  was 
the  constant  target  and  object  of  fun  for  both  Desor 
and  Vogt.  What  he  suffered,  during  the  six  winters  he 
passed  with  them,  is  difficult  to  imagine.  He  accepted 
always  with  a  smile  the  most  cruel  practical  joke,  work- 
ing quietly  at  his  manuscripts,  and  cleaning  his  fossils 
with  his  tongue.  As  soon  as  the  spring  was  begun, 
Gressly  escaped  his  martyrdom  in  the  laboratory  by 
going  into  the  field  for  eight  or  nine  months.  There 
the  poor  tramp  was  at  least  free  from  the  sarcasms  of 
his  two  persecutors.  It  must  in  justice  be  said  that 
years  after,  when  both  Desor  and  Vogt  had  attained 
reputation  and  social  position,  they  were  kind  to  Gressly. 
Vogt  took  him  as  a  companion  during  a  journey  to 
Iceland ;  and  Desor  gave  him  a  room  in  his  house  at 
Neuchatel  and  at  his  country  house  at  Combe-Varin, 
until  he  was  too  ill  to  be  taken  care  of  outside  of  an 
asylum. 

But  Gressly  was  too  much  absorbed  in  geology  to  be 
made  use  of  as  a  clerk.  Desor  soon  found  out  that  if 
Gressly  was  ready  to  be  treated  as  a  funny  man,  he 
had  too  much  independence  and  was  too  learned  to  be 
a   "  saute-ruisseau,"  as  small  clerks  in  French  notary 

1The  word  is  most  unjust  and  inexact,  showing  that  Vogt  is  not  and 
never  was  a  practical  geologist.  Gressly  was  a  very  steady  and  persistent 
observer,  and  all  his  explorations  were  always  systematically  carried  on. 


1839-40.]  CHARLES   GIRARD.  151 

offices  or  bureaus  are  called  ;  so  he  hired  the  young 
son  of  a  peasant,  named  Girard,  of  Concise,  the  for- 
mer parish  of  Agassiz's  father,  to  be  his  Jack  at  all 
trades.  Intelligent  and  desirous  to  become  a  naturalist, 
Charles  Girard  submitted  to  the  continual  and  rather 
severe  exactions  of  Desor ;  for  he  not  only  had  to  write 
under  Desor's  dictation,  but  he  was  constantly  running 
between  the  laboratory,  Agassiz's  lodging,  the  lecture- 
room,  the  lithographic  establishment,  and  the  printing- 
press;  besides,  he  was  the  bootblack  for  the  whole 
establishment.  Desor  kept  him  very  close,  and  pun- 
ished him  remorselessly  by  sharp  reprimands,  which 
were  always  accepted  without  a  word  of  retort,  for 
Desor  was  the  head  man,  and  not  an  easy  one  to 
please. 

As  Vogt  says,  during  the  last  six  years  of  Agassiz's 
life  at  Neuchatel,  it  was  a  kind  of  scientific  factory, 
producing  more  than  was  wanted,  and  glutting  the 
market  with  publications,  without  profit  to  anybody. 
Indeed,  several  of  the  works  issued  might  have  been 
dispensed  with,  both  as  regards  cleverness  and  timeli- 
ness, to  say  nothing  of  the  pecuniary  expense,  which 
was  always  rather  great,  notwithstanding  the  cheapness 
of  living  in  Neuchatel. 

However  open  to  just  criticism  several  of  Agassiz's 
undertakings  may  be,  they  furnished  an  example  of  mar- 
vellous initiative  and  of  extraordinary  impulse.  Every 
one  under  Agassiz's  direction  worked  hard  and  well  ; 
there  was  a  sort  of  rivalry  as  to  who  would  do  best  and 
most.     The  first  part  of  the  "Description  des  Echino- 


i52  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

dermes  fossiles  de  la  Suisse,"  containing  spatangoids  and 
clypeastroids,  appeared  during  the  autumn  of  1839,  in 
the  "  Nouveaux  Memoires  de  la  Societe  Helvetique." 
Until  then  no  publication  on  echinoderms  of  such  impor- 
tance in  regard  to  classification,  correctness  of  localities, 
and  stratigraphical  position,  had  appeared.  Gressly  had 
had  a  great  share  in  it,  having  found  the  majority  of  the 
specimens  used,  and  having  helped  Agassiz  in  his  descrip- 
tions and  other  details  of  each  species.  A  special  artist, 
Dickmann,  was  trained  by  Agassiz  to  draw  Echinidae,  and 
the  accompanying  plates  are  excellent.  The  memoir  was 
made  use  of  at  once,  with  great  advantage,  by  all  geolo- 
gists studying  the  Jurassic  and  Neocomian  series  ;  and 
seldom  has  such  an  important  and  timely  contribution 
to  palaeontology  been  made.  The  second  part,  "  Cida- 
rides,"  soon  followed,  in  June,  1840;  and  the  whole 
work  is  one  of  Agassiz's  best,  being  remarkably  clear, 
with  excellent  classification,  good  genera  and  species ; 
all  of  which  have  been  accepted  and  used  since,  in  all 
the  works  on  fossil  echinoderms. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  winter  Agassiz  wrote  a  very 
interesting  letter  on  the  glaciers  to  Elie  de  Beaumont, 
asking  him  to  communicate  it  to  the  Academy  of  Science. 
But  de  Beaumont  was  a  rather  unfair  opponent  in 
everything  relating  to  the  glacial  question,  and  he  did 
not  read  the  letter  to  the  Academy,  as  he  was  requested 
to  do.  As  it  is  important,  and  allows  every  one  to  see 
the  opposition  at  that  time  constantly  made  against  the 
doctrine  of  the  action  of  glaciers  in  the  Alps,  I  give  it 
almost  in  full,  suppressing  only  local  details  relating  to 


1839-40]  LETTER   TO  DE  BEAUMONT.  153 

the  glaciers  around  Zermatt  and  Mont  Cervin.  Besides, 
this  letter  had  the  advantage  of  giving,  before  the  publi- 
cation  of  "  Etudes  sur  les  glaciers,"  advertised  to  appear 
the  following  year,  explanations  of  some  of  the  plates 
prepared  for  the  folio  atlas  to  accompany  that  work. 

NeuchAtel,  16  decembre,  1839. 
Louis  Agassiz 
a  Elie  de  Beaumont. 

Je  venais  d'emballer  les  premieres  dpreuves  de  mes  planches  de 
glaciers  pour  vous  les  envoyer  lorsque  je  recus  votre  lettre  a  laquelle 
je  rrfempresse  de  repondre.  J'espere  pouvoir  vous  adresser  d'ici  au 
printemps  le  cahier  complet  des  planches  que  je  fais  faire  sur  les 
phenomenes  que  presentent  les  glaciers ;  celles  que  je  vous  adresse 
aujourd'hui  ne  sont  relatives  qu'a.  la  formation  et  a.  la  marche  des 
moraines  et  a  Taction  des  glaciers  sur  le  fond  sur  lequel  ils  reposent. 
Tout  ce  qui  concerne  la  structure  intime  des  glaciers  et  la  plus  grande 
extension  qu'ils  avaient  autrefois  ainsi  que  les  moraines  anciennes 
sera  figure  plus  tard.  JHai  voulu  rester  d'abord  dans  des  limites  ou  je 
suis  sure  de  ne  rencontrer  aucune  opposition.  Ce  sera  je  Tespere  le 
meilleur  moyen  de  preparer  un  acceuil  favorable  aux  phenomenes 
trop  contested  dont  j'ai  deja  parle  ailleurs.  Je  crois  que  je  parvien- 
drai  a.  les  faire  adopter  lorsque  je  serai  parvenu  a  demontrer  avec 
le  raeme  respect  qui  vous  anime  pour  les  lois  generates  concernant 
notre  globe,  que  des  oscillations  de  temperature  un  peu  plus  grandes 
ou  un  peu  plus  faibles  ne  sortent  pas  plus  du  cadre  des  lois  invariables 
de  la  physique  que  des  phenomenes  de  soulevement  poussant  un 
ilot  a  fleur  d'eau,  ou  soulevant  la  chaine  des  Alpes.  D'ailleurs 
Tetude  comparative  que  j'ai  faite  d'une  part  de  reffet  de  l'eau  cou- 
rante,  ou  de  grandes  masses  d'eau  mues  par  les  vents,  d'autre  part 
des  efFets  produits  par  le  mouvement  des  glaciers,  me  permet  main- 
tenant  de  les  distinguer  a  quelque  distance  de  leur  source  premiere 
que  je  les  rencontre. 

Mais  revenons  aux  glaciers  tels  qu'ils  se  presentent  dans  leur 


r54  LOUIS  AGASSrz.  [chap.  vii. 

limites  actuelles.  Les  Planches  i  et  2  (de  l1  Atlas  de  32  planches  des 
Etudes  sur  les  Glaciers,  qui  a  paru  en  1840),  que  Ton  peut  joindre, 
offrent  un  panorama  des  principals  sommites  du  Mont-Rose  vues 
depuis  le  RifTelhorn.  .  .  .  Je  ferai  d'abord  remarquer  que  sur  la 
droite  de  la  Planche  No.  1.  on  voit  distinctement  une  grande  moraine 
formde  autour  du  rocher  saillant  qui  borde  le  glacier  du  Mont-Rose, 
et  qui  est  refoule'e  sur  le  glacier  principal  par  les  glaces  descendant 
du  Lyskamm,  c'est  la  moraine  que  j'appelle  la  grande  moraine  du 
.Mont-Rose  pour  la  distinguer  d'une  autre  moraine  moins  consi- 
derable qui  se  forme  par  les  eboulements,  de  quelques  aretes  nues  du 
Mont-Rose  et  qui  descend  a.  peu  pres  sur  le  milieu  du  grand  massif 
de  glace  qui  separe  le  Mont-Rose  du  Gornerhorn  et  qui  apres  s'etre 
repliee  sur  le  milieu  du  grand  glacier  marche  parallelement  avec  la 
premiere.  De  Tangle  inferieure  du  Gornerhorn,  on  voit  surgir  une 
troisieme  moraine  separee  de  la  petite  moraine  du  Mont-Rose  par 
une  serie  d'entonnoirs  d'abord  peu  distincts,  mais  qui  grandissent 
en  face  du  Lyskamm  et  du  Breithorn,  pour  disparaitre  entierement 
plus  bas.  Je  lui  ai  donne  le  nom  de  moraine  du  Gornerhorn. 
Enfin  sur  le  devant  de  la  planche  on  remarque  une  quatrieme 
moraine  qui  descend  du  milieu  de  la  Porte-Blanche  et  qui  tend  a.  se 
confondre  avec  la  moraine  du  Gornerhorn  (La  Porte-Blanche  est 
Tarrete  qui  domine  la  vallee  de  Macugnaga  au  nord  du  Gorner- 
horn). Lorsqu'on  descend  au  pied  du  Riffel  on  remarque  une 
cinquieme  grande  moraine  au  bord  du  glacier,  mais  elle  reste  in- 
apercue  sur  cette  planche  a  cause  de  la  saillie  que  forment  les 
rochers  d'011  le  panorama  est  dessine.  .   .   . 

La  planche  3  repre'sente  le  glacier  de  Zermatt  au  point  011  apres 
avoir  recu  les  affluents  de  tous  les  pics  il  commence  a.  descendre 
dans  la  vallee  en  s'engageant  entre  le  RifTelhorn  et  les  rochers  ap- 
pelds  Auf-Platten.  ...  La  planche  4  est  la  continuation  de  la 
planche  3  ;  le  glacier  est  deja.  considerablement  descendu  entre  le 
RifTelhorn  et  Auf-Platten.  Cette  vue  est  prise  vis-a-vis  du  RifTel- 
horn au  bord  d'une  cascade  qui  descend  du  glacier  de  Furke  en 
montant  a  Auf-Platten,  tandisque  les  trois  autres  planches  sont 
dessine'es  depuis  le  RifTelhorn.  ...     En  general  a  Pextrdmite  du 


1839-40.]  LETTER    TO   DE  BEAUMONT.  155 


glacier  les  moraines  se  dispersent  tellement  qu'il  est  fort  difficile  de 
les  distinguer  les  unes  des  autres.  On  ne  les  reconnoit  guere  qu'a  la 
nature  de  leurs  roches.  La  marche  de  toutes  ces  moraines  com- 
pletement  distinctes  dans  la  partie  superieure  du  glacier,  plus  ou 
moins  confondues  dans  sa  partie  inferieure  prouve  que  les  affluents 
de  glace  qui  descendent  des  pics  superieures  comme  autant  de  massif 
distincts  se  reunissent  plus  bas  en  un  massif  homogene  semblable  a 
un  grand  fleuve  qui  vers  son  embouchure  roule  d'une  maniere  uni- 
forme  des  riots  longtemps  distincts,  mais  enfin  confondus  dans  leur 
marche.   .  .   . 

Les  planches  6  et  7  doivent  donner  une  idde  de  Taction  qu'exer- 
cent  les  glaciers  sur  le  fond  sur  lequel  ils  se  meuvent.  .  .  .  En 
penetrant  sous  le  glacier,  entre  ses  crevasses,  a  plusieurs  metres  de 
profondeur  j'ai  pu  me  convaincre  que  le  poli  des  roches  et  les  stries 
(burinees  dessus  les  serpentines)  existent  uniformement  sous  le 
glacier  comme  sur  ses  flancs,  et  la  direction  des  stries  que  j"ai  ob- 
servee  le  long  du  glacier  depuis  le  pied  de  la  Porte-Blanche  jus- 
qu1a  la  source  de  la  Viege  qui  sort  de  la  voute  inferieure  du  glacier, 
la  direction  de  ces  stries,  dis-je,  qui  suivent  toutes  les  inflections  du 
glacier,  qui  sont  rectilignes  partout  ou  le  glacier  se  meut  en  droite 
ligne,  qui  se  courbent  et  prennent  meme  une  direction  ascendantes 
la  ou  le  glacier  passe  pardessus  des  aretes  saillantes  de  rochers  ; 
cette  direction  ne  laisse  aucun  doute  sur  la  liaison  qui  existe  entre 
ces  stries  et  le  glacier  lui-meme.  On  ne  saurait  douter  non  plus 
quand  on  a  poursuivi  ce  phenomene  sur  une  aussi  grande  etendue, 
que  les  grains  de  quartz  provenant  des  granites  tritures  dans  les 
moraines  marginales  ne  soient  Temeri  au  moyen  duquel  le  glacier 
en  se  mouvant  polit  et  raie  le  fond  sur  lequel  il  marche  ;  il  me  parait 
impossible  de  supposer  que  ces  surfaces  polies  et  ces  stries  aient 
existe  anterieurement  a  la  formation  des  glaciers,  et  que  les  glaciers 
aient  pu  se  mouvoir  a  leur  surface  sans  les  effacer.  Ces  surfaces 
polies  et  ces  stries  sont  si  constantes  autour  des  glaciers,  si  fraiches 
dessous  leurs  masses,  si  bien  conservees  partout  ou  les  glaciers 
existent  encore  que  les  habitants  de  la  contre'e  les  ont  remarqui 
et  les  attribuent  au  mouvement  des  glaces  meme  la  ou  le  glacier  a 


1 56  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

disparu.  Leur  direction  presqu'horizontale  tout  le  long  du  bassin 
du  glacier  de  Zermatt,  sur  les  flancs  et  parois  du  Riffel  et  d'Auf- 
Platten  s'oppose  a  toute  idee  d'avalanche,  comme  cause  de  ces 
stries,  car  a  raison  de  la  configuration  des  lieux,  toutes  les  avalanches 
qui  pourraint  se  former,  couperaient  necessairement  a.  angle  droit 
la  direction  des  stries  telle  qu'on  Tobserve  ;  en  un  mot  les  faits  sont 
de  telle  nature  dans  toute  Petendue  du  cours  des  glaciers  que  je  viens 
de  decrire,  qu'il  est  impossible  de  ne  pas  reconnaitre  que  c'est  le 
glacier  qui  a  poli  ses  bords  au-dessus  du  niveau  qu'il  occupe  main- 
tenant  et  qu*il  continue  a  polir  les  rochers  sur  les  quels  il  repose 
encore.  Les  faits  sont  si  parlants  que  M.  Studer  qui  a  fait  une  fois 
la  course  du  Riffel  avec  moi  s'est  rendu  a  Tevidence  quoiquil  eut 
nie  jusqu'alors  la  liaison  des  surfaces  polies  et  des  stries  avec  les 
glaciers.  Une  autre  circonstance  qui  parle  hautement  en  faveur  de 
cette  liaison  c'est  que  les  surfaces  polies  et  les  stries  sont  d'autant 
moins  distinctes  qu'on  les  observe  sur  des  surfaces  abandonnees 
depuis  plus  longtemps  des  glaciers  et  ou  ils  ont  cependant  existe 
de  memoire  d'homme,  comme  c'est  par  exemple  le  cas  au-dessous 
de  Textremitd  actuelle  du  glacier  de  Viesch,  que  les  registres  de  la 
paroisse  d'Aunen  constatent  s'etre  etendu  jusque  pres  du  village  de 
Viesch,  c'est-a-dire  une  lieue  plus  bas  que  maintenant. 

La  vallee  de  Viesch  est  une  des  plus  interessantes  que  je  con- 
naisse  pour  l'etude  comparative  de  Taction  des  eaux  et  des  glaces 
sur  le  fond  de  leur  lit ;  et  quelque  soit  la  cause  a.  laquelle  on  attribue 
les  surfaces  polies  et  les  stries,  toujours  est-il  que  dans  chaque  vallee 
ou  on  les  observe,  elles  suivent  en  somrae  la  direction  de  la  vallee, 
c'est-a-dire,  que  pour  prendre  des  exemples  precis,  les  stries  de  la 
vallee  de  Viesch  s'inclinent  du  Nord  au  Sud  vers  le  Rhone,  tandis- 
que  celles  qui  accompagnent  le  glacier  du  Rhone  sont  dirigees  de 
l'Est  a  TOuest  et  celles  qui  accompagnent  le  glacier  de  l'Aar  de  l'Ouest 
a  TEst  jusqu'a  l'hospice  du  Grimsel,  puis  du  Sud  au  Nord  du 
Grimsel  a  la  Handeck  ou  il  est  certain  que  ces  stries  existent  sur  les 
flancs  du  glacier  de  PAar  jusqu'au  niveau  du  col  qui  separe  l'Ober- 
land  bernois  du  Valais.  Pour  pouvoir  attribuer  ces  stries  a  des 
courants  il  faudrait  done  (abstraction  faite  de  tous  les  faits  que  j'ai 
de'ja  cites  et  qui  prouvent  une  liaison  intime  entre  les  stries  et  les 
glaciers)  imaginer  des  courants  remplissant  jusqu'a  les  combler  ces 


1839-40.]  LETTER    TO  DE  BEAUMONT.  157 

hautes  vallees  et  dirigcs  Tun  du  Finsteraarhorn  a  TEst  jusqu'au 
Grimsel  en  sens  inverse  d'un  autre  courant  parallele  dirigc'  des 
sommites  des  glaciers  du  Rhone  vers  la  Mayenwand,  c'est-a-dire,  de 
TEst  a  TOuest  et  se  precipitant  dans  la  vallee  du  Rhone  pour  y 
rencontrer  un  troisieme  courant,  tout  aussi  puissant  dirige  directement 
du  Nord  au  Sucl  de  la  vallee  de  Viesch  ;  et  tous  ces  courants  devraient 
naitre  sur  la  crete  si  etroite  qui  separe  ces  trois  vallees  ;  car  comme 
vous  l'avez  tres  bien  observe',  les  surfaces  polies  nous  prouvent  que 
le  relief  du  centre  de  TEurope  n'a  subi  aucun  changement  notable 
depuis  qu'il  est  sous  Finfluence  des  causes  actuelles.  Or  revenons 
a  la  vallee  de  Viesch  dont  la  partie  superieure  est  occupee  par  un 
glacier  et  dans  le  fond  de  laquelle  coule  un  torrent  rapide  dont  le 
cours  n'est  pas  beaucoup  plus  court  que  ne  serait  le  grand  courant 
auquel  on  voudrait  attribuer  les  surfaces  polies  et  les  stries  de  cette 
vallee,  si  jamais  pareil  courant  avait  pu  naitre  sur  les  cretes  du 
Viescherhorn,  et  voyons  bien  qu'elle  influence  le  glacier  actuel  et  le 
torrent  actuel  exercent  sur  le  fond  de  leur  lit. 

Les  roches  au  bord  du  glacier  et  sous  le  glacier  sont  polies 
et  striees  dans  toute  Pe'tendue  que  recouvre  maintenant  le  glacier. 
Partout  ou  l'on  peut  penetrer  sous  la  glace  ou  ddblayer  la  grande 
moraine  qui  Tentoure,  les  stries  et  les  surfaces  polies  sont  fraiches  et 
la  direction  des  stries  ne  laisse  aucun  doute  sur  la  cause  qui  les  a 
produites,  ici  encore  elles  sont  dues  aux  glaciers  II  est  vrai  que  le 
torrent  qui  corrode  le  fond  de  cette  vallee  y  creuse  des  sillons  sinueux 
et  polit  les  cotes  de  son  lit,  mais  ces  polis  effectues  par  Teau  ont 
un  aspect  tout  different,  ils  sont  mats,  creux,  souvent  meme  incrustes  ; 
ce  sont  des  coups  de  gouge  plus  ou  moins  allonges,  limites  par  des 
aretes  saillantes ;  jamais  ils  ne  sont  strips ;  jamais  ils  ne  presentent 
de  surfaces  un  peu  etendues,  tandisque  les  surfaces  polies  par  le 
glacier  sont  bosselees  en  relief,  les  parties  saillantes  sont  surtout 
striees  et  les  parties  dans  la  roche  ne  font  jamais  saillie.  Les  sur- 
faces polies  qui  sont  encore  maintenant  sous  le  glacier  clans  cette 
vallee  sont  la  continuation  directe  de  celles  sur  lesquelles  le  glacier 
ne  repose  plus,  mais  sur  lesquelles  on  sait  qu'il  a  repose  jadis.  Ces 
surfaces  polies  denudees  que  Ton  voit  sur  les  c6tes  du  cours  du  tor- 
rent sont  striees  dans  le  meme  sens  que  celles  que  Ton  voit  encore 
sous  le  glacier ;  elles  different  completement  des  surfaces  corrod 


15S  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

par  Peau  du  torrent,  mais  elles  sont  identiques  avec  les  parois  de  la 
vallee  qui  ont  conserve  leur  poli.  Mais  comme  on  ne  voit  aucune 
trace  analogue  a  celle  du  torrent  dans  la  partie  superieure  de  la 
vallee.  tandisque  ses  parois  sont  strides  et  polies  a.  de  grandes 
hauteurs  absolument  comme  sous  le  glacier,  il  me  parait  dime  bonne 
logique  de  conclure  que  la  cause  qui  a  agi  plus  puissament  autrefois 
que  maintenant,  etait  tin  glacier  plus  etendu  et  non  pas  un  grand 
torrent.  Je  n'entrerai  pas  ici  dans  le  detail  des  differences  tres 
notables  que  presentent  les  roches  de  differente  nature  sous  Pinflu- 
ence  des  glaciers  et  sous  celle  des  courants,  vous  Pavez  sans  doute 
deja.  remarque.  Je  me  bornerai  a.  dire  que  les  serpentines  de  la 
vallee  de  Zermatt  et  du  Riffelhorn  presentent  le  plus  beau  poli  que 
je  connoisse ;  que  les  granites  des  parois  du  glacier  de  PAar  ne  le 
cede  en  rien  aux  serpentines  la  oil  ils  n'ont  pas  ete  encore  exposes  a 
Taction  de  Pair,  mais  que  Patmosphere  les  rend  facilement  rudes  au 
toucher ;  que  les  gneiss  ne  conservent  guere  de  traces  de  stries  et 
de  polis,  que  lorsque  les  glaciers  ont  agi  sur  les  tranches  de  leurs 
couches  ;  que  les  calcaires,  tout  en  prenant  facilement  un  tres  beau 
poli  ne  le  conservent  pas  facilement  lorsqulls  ne  restent  pas  re- 
couverts  par  le  limon  des  moraines  apres  avoir  ete  polis.  Cela  est 
si  vrai,  que  dans  les  Alpes  ce  n'est  guere  que  sous  les  glaciers  memes 
que  les  calcaires  alpins  conservent  les  traces  de  leurs  stries ;  ces 
faits  sont  line  nouvelle  preuve  bien  puissante  de  mon  assertion,  que 
les  surfaces  polies  et  les  stries  sont  reellement  dues  aux  glaciers  et 
ne  peuvent  point  avoir  ete  simplement  conserves  sous  les  glaciers. 

Dans  Pexpose  de  ces  faits  je  me  suis  restreint  aux  phenomenes 
tels  qu'ils  se  presentent  dans  les  Alpes.  afin  de  ne  point  reveiller  les 
objections  qui  n'atteignent  que  leur  extension  dans  des  regions  oil 
les  glaciers  n'existent  plus  ;  plus  tard  je  reviendrai  stir  les  glaciers  du 
Jura,  lorsque  Pensemble  de  mes  observations  sera  aussi  concluant 
pour  ces  contrees  qu'elles  le  sont  pour  les  Alpes.  Je  dirai  seulement 
que  mes  courses  de  cet  automne  m'ont  fourni  de  nouvelles  preuves  de 
la  liaison  qui  existe  entre  les  blocs  erratiques  du  Jura  et  les  glaciers. 
J'y  ai  acquis  en  meme  temps  la  conviction  qu'il  a  existe  dans  Pinte- 
rieur  du  Jura  des  glaciers  independants  de  ceux  des  Alpes.  Les 
physiciens  s'arrangeront  de  ces  faits  comme  ils  le  pourront.  mais  je 
ne  crois  pas  qu"il  y  ait  quelque  chose  de  plus  contraire  aux  lois  de  la 


1 839-4°-]  LETTER    TO   DE  BEAUMONT.  159 

physique  dans  les  phenomenes  qui  nous  dcmontrent  Texistence  d'une 
creation  (de  faune  et  de  flore)  tropicale  en  Suisse,  que  dans  ceux 
qui  lui  assignent  a  une  autre  epoque  un  climat  boreal. 

En  vous  adressant  prochainement  les  autres  planches  de  mon 
livre  je  les  accompagnerai  de  quelques  observations  sur  la  marche 
des  glaciers,  sur  leur  formation  et  sur  leur  structure  intime.  Une 
troisieme  notice  sera  relative  aux  phenomenes  eloignes  des  Alpes  qui 
je  crois  se  rattachent  a  ceux  dont  je  viens  de  vous  entretenir.  Avant 
de  les  publier  je  desirerais  vous  les  soumettre  dans  leur  ensemble. 

Vous  m'obligeriez  infiniment  en  m'exposant  d'une  maniere  precise 
les  objections  que  vous  avez  a  faire  a  ces  considerations.  Quoique 
j'aie  deja  fait  de  nombreuses  observations  therm  ometriques  sur  les 
eaux  courantes  et  sur  les  petits  lacs  et  les  mares  des  glaciers  et  sur 
les  glaces  memes,  je  fais  de  nouveaux  preparatifs  pour  aller  etudier 
Pete  prochain  les  profondeurs  des  glaciers  en  faisant  des  sondages 
pour  traverser  tout  le  massif  des  glaciers  et  penetrer  jusque  dans  le 
sol  sous-jacent.  Si  vous  aviez  quelques  observations  a  me  proposer, 
je  les  ferais  avec  le  plus  grand  plaisir ,  je  serais  egalement  fort 
redevable  a  M .  Arago  s^l  voulait  bien  me  faire  part  de  ses  desiderata 
relativement  aux  glaciers.  Je  compte  passer  Pete  prochain  plusieurs 
semaines  dans  le  cceur  des  Alpes. 

J'ai  visite  cet  ete  tous  les  abords  de  la  grande  mer  de  glace  qui 
s'etend  entre  le  Valais  et  POberland  afin  de  nVorienter  prealablement, 
et  mon  intention  est  de  la  traverser  dans  tous  les  sens  si  le  temps  m'est 
favorable  JHai  deja.  penetre  par  le  glacier  de  l'Aar  jusqu'au  pied 
du  Finsteraarhorn,  et  par  le  glacier  d'Aletsch  jusqu'au  pied  des 
Viescherhorner,  derriere  la  Jungfrau,  et  passe  de  la  au  glacier  de 
Viesch.  Mon  projet  serait  de  traverser  de  Grindehvald  au  Grimsel 
par  l'arete  d'Ashchwung. 

Si  vous  pensez  que  ces  observations  puissent  interesscr  l'Acade'mie 
des  sciences  (de  l'Institut  de  France),  vous  nvobligeriez  en  lui  en  com- 
muniquant  succinctement  le  contenu.  Ne  jugez  pas  trop  seVerement 
mes  dessins,  mais  pensez  a  la  difficulte  qu'il  y  avait  a  encadrer  dans 
des  dimensions  donnees,  des  vues  privees  de  toute  vegetation,  ne 
reprdsentant  que  des  rochers  nus,  des  glaces,  et  des  neiges,  ou  Ton 
rencontre  a  peine  des  etres  vivants,  par  ci  par  la  seulement  quelques 
Pyrrhocorax,  quelques   Gelinottes.  rarement   des    marmottes,   plus 


160  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

rarement  encore  des  chamois  et  (Toil  les  habitations  des  hommes 
se  voient  dans  le  lointain,  au  fond  des  vallees,  comme  dans  Tabyme. 
Je  vais  faire  copier  mes  croquis  du  Jura  pour  vous  les  envoyer 
immediatement.  Je  ne  tarderai  pas  non  plus  a  vous  envoyer  ma 
notice  sur  vos  Echinodermes. 

The  winter  of  1839-1840  was  employed  in  writing,  be- 
sides the  continuation  of  the  "  Fossils  Fishes,"  a  volume 
on  the  glaciers,  and  two  monographs  on  the  echino- 
derms,  and  on  the  Trigonia ;  and  Vogt  translated  the 
manuscript  of  the  "Etudes  sur  les  glaciers"  into  Ger- 
man, in  order  to  have  the  French  and  German  edition 
issued  at  the  same  time.  The  book  appeared  in  Sep- 
tember, 1840,  with  a  splendid  folio  atlas  of  eighteen 
beautifully  executed  plates.  In  it  Agassiz  very  frankly 
gives  an  account  of  his  five  months'  companionship  in 
1836  with  de  Charpentier,  who  taught  him  the  glacial 
doctrine,  and  of  his  returning  with  several  of  his  friends : 
among  them,  Karl  Schimper,  Francillon  of  Lausanne, 
who  became  his  brother-in-law,  Max  Braun,  Dinkel,  and 
his  secretary,  to  visit  again  the  classical  localities  first 
shown  to  him  by  de  Charpentier.  The  historical  part 
on  the  glaciers  is  very  full  and  just  to  every  observer 
who  had  entered  the  field  before  him.  The  work  is 
dedicated  to  "  M.  Venetz,  Ingenieur  des  Ponts  et 
Chaussees  au  Canton  de  Vaud,  et  a  M.  J.  de  Charpen- 
tier, Directeur  des  Mines  de  Bex."  Notwithstanding 
all  these  precautions,  the  work  displeased  Venetz,  de 
Charpentier,  and  Hugi,  his  three  predecessors  in  the 
study  of  the  alpine  glaciers  of  Switzerland.  De  Char- 
pentier was  at  work  on  his  volume  "Essai  sur  les 
glaciers,"  which  was  then  passing  through  the  press, 


i839-4°-]         "ETUDES  SUR  LES   GLACIERS.'  161 

and  he  thought  that  his  pupil  Agassiz  might  have 
waited  until  he  himself  had  given  to  the  world  his 
researches,  before  printing  what  he  had  learned  from 
him.  It  was  a  question  of  politeness,  which  de  Char- 
pentier  emphasized  perhaps  too  strongly,  for  Agassiz 
did  not  intend  to  wound  him ;  on  the  contrary,  he  pro- 
claimed the  priority  of  Venetz's  and  de  Charpentier's 
discoveries.  But  the  method  used  by  Agassiz  shows  a 
want  of  courtesy  in  his  eagerness  to  propagate  and 
make  known  the  new  doctrine.  A  few  words  are  neces- 
sary to  explain  the  estrangement  of  friendly  relations 
between  Agassiz  and  de  Charpentier.  Agassiz,  with 
his  insatiable  appetite,  and  his  great  faculty  of  assimi- 
lation, digested  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  glaciers,  and 
made  use  of  it,  as  it  was  almost  his  own.  He  did  not 
want  to  wrong  de  Charpentier  in  any  way,  but  he  was 
so  ardent,  so  impulsive,  that  he  appeared  in  the  eyes  of 
de  Charpentier  and  his  friends  to  be  too  eager  in  taking 
the  wind  from  the  sails  of  others.  De  Charpentier's 
manuscript  was  finished  the  31st  of  October,  1840,  and 
he  received  Agassiz's  "Etudes  sur  les  glaciers'  only 
three  days  before,  on  the  28th  of  October,  and  thus  had 
time  only  to  look  it  over  and  notice  it  in  his  Introduc- 
tion, pp.  vii  and  viii.  As  Agassiz  continued  in  his  work 
to  maintain  his  fanciful  theory  of  transportation  of 
boulders,  by  sliding  over  the  ice-sheet,  de  Charpentier's 
objections,  pp.  232-241,  were  timely  and  to  the  point. 
The  "  Essai  sur  les  glaciers"  appeared  a  few  months 
later,  in  February,  1841.  Of  that  work  the  biographer 
of  de  Charpentier  says:  "The  work  will  remain  a 
classic.     Unhappily  the  modesty  of  the  author  induced 

M 


iS2  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

him  to  publish  it  at  Lausanne,  which  explains  why  it 
was  so  little  known  in  France,  in  Germany,  and  other 
countries,  when,  if  it  had  been  published  in  Paris,  with 
a  simultaneous  German  edition  in  a  great  city  of  Ger- 
many, it  would  have  been  one  of  the  most  important 
and  at  the  same  time  popular  books  of  the  time.  I 
cannot  better  express  my  admiration  for  the  work  than 
to  say  that  it  is  impossible  to  be  truly  a  geologist 
without  having  read  and  studied  it '  (Dr.  H.  Lebert, 
"Biography  of  Jean  de  Charpentier "). 

The  following  letter  from  Agassiz  to  de  Charpentier 
explains  the  impression  made  on  both  by  the  publica- 
tion of  their  two  works  on  the  glaciers  and  the  trans- 
portation of  boulders  :  — 

Neuchatel,  28  juin,  1841. 
a  M.  J.  de  Charpentier, 

Directeur  des  Mines,  a.  Bex. 

Mon  Cher  Monsieur,  —  Apres  beaucoup  de  demarches  inutiles 
j'ai  enfin  pu  me  procurer  votre  ouvrage  sur  les  glaciers,  etc.  Je  Tai 
lu  avec  avidite  et  j'y  ai  trouve  beaucoup  de  faits  d\m  grand  interet. 
Je  me  suis  convaincu  de  nouveau  que  nous  avons  tous  encore  beau- 
coup a  apprendre  sur  ce  sujet.  Je  regrette  une  seule  chose  e'est 
que  vous  ayez  si  peu  mis  a.  profit  mes  observations,  vous  auriez  pu 
par  la  completer  plusieurs  points  de  votre  travail  et  vous  donner 
le  merite  de  fondre  tout  ce  que  Ton  sait  maintenant  de  positif  sur 
la  question  des  glaciers,  d'harmoniser  les  denominations  divergentes 
que  vous  avez  employees,  d'etablir  la  synonymie  des  votres  avec  les 
miennes,  etc.  Puisque  vous  n'y  avez  pas  songe  je  nren  chargerai 
et  malgre  le  mauvais  vouloir  que  vous  avez  mis  partout  en  me  citant, 
vous  n'aurez  pas  trop  a  vous  plaindre  de  moi,  car  je  tiens  avant  tout 
aux  progres  de  la  science  sans  acception  de  personnes.  J'ai  d'ailleurs 
une  masse  d'observations  nouvelles  a  publier,  recueillies  dans  les 
montagnes  des  Isles  Britanniques  Tautomne  dernier  et  au  commence- 
ment du  mois  de  Mars  de  cette  annee  sur  le  glacier  inferieur  de 
TAar  que  j"ai  parcouru  jusqu'a  TAbschwung. 


1839-40-]        LETTER   TO   DE  CHARPENTIER.  163 

Uaffection  que  je  vous  ai  toujours  conserve  me  fait  regretter  pour 
vous  que  vous  vous  soyez  donne  le  tort  de  critiquer  des  bagatelles 
de  mes  planches  et  de  mon  livre,  sans  citer  aucun  fait  instructif, 
excepte  la  temperature  du  glacier.  Cette  reserve  est  tellement  frap- 
pante  que  deja  deux  de  mes  amis  nfen  ont  exprimc  leur  etonnement. 
Mais  cela  s'oubliera  j'espere. 

Au  revoir  a.  ZUrich  si  vous  y  allez,  si  non  j'espere  sur  votre  terri- 
toire  un  peu  plus  tard.  Mes  respects  a  Mademoiselle  de  Charpen- 
tier.     Agrdez  Passurance,  etc.,  etc. 

Louis  Agassiz. 

This  letter  ended  the  friendly  relations  between  two 
unusually  congenial  men  of  genius,  who  ought  to  have 
remained  friends,  as  workers  in  the  same  field  and  as 
neighbours.  If  left  to  himself,  Agassiz  would  have 
bridged  the  chasm ;  but  he  was  already  too  much  in- 
fluenced by  his  secretary  and  by  some  others  of  his 
collaborators,  more  or  less  interested  in  keeping  matters 
embroiled.  After  repeatedly  hearing  Agassiz,  and  once 
hearing  de  Charpentier,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that, 
but  for  the  objectionable  surroundings  in  which  Agassiz 
lived  from  1839  until  he  left  Switzerland,  the  wound 
would  have  been  promptly  healed  and  friendship  re- 
newed. 

On  the  5th  of  August,  1840,  Agassiz  left  Neuchatel 
for  the  Grimsel.  There  he  took  into  his  service  two  of 
the  best  Oberland  guides,  Jacob  Lcuthold  and  Jean 
Wahren,  the  latter  a  mason  by  trade,  and  started  at 
once  for  the  lower  part  of  the  glacier  of  the  Aar.  The 
plan  was  to  establish  a  station  on  the  glacier  itself,  and 
for  that  purpose  to  make  use  of  Hugi's  cabin,  found 
by  Agassiz  in  the  preceding  year,  in  a  very  good 
state  of  preservation,  as  already  reported.     But  to  his 


1 64  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

astonishment  the  cabin  had  disappeared,  and  it  was 
with  some  difficulty  that  Agassiz  at  last  found  some  of 
the  debris,  two  hundred  feet  below  the  place  occupied 
by  the  cabin  in  1839.  After  consultation  with  the 
guides,  who  gave  the  very  practicable  advice  to  build 
a  cabin  on  the  rock  bordering  the  left  side  of  the 
glacier,  Agassiz,  who  was  resolved  to  imitate  Hugi, 
gave  all  sorts  of  reasons  for  establishing  the  cabin  on 
the  median  moraine,  and  finally  an  enormous  block  of 
micaceous  slate  was  selected.  A  part  of  the  block  pro- 
jected in  a  sort  of  roof,  under  which  a  wall  was  built 
by  the  mason.  Four  porters,  lent  by  the  housekeeper 
of  the  Grimsel's  hospice,  to  carry  provisions  and  bed- 
ding, helped  in  the  construction  of  the  cabin,  which 
was  inhabited  the  same  evening.  The  opening  of  the 
cabin  was  toward  the  south,  and  a  good  sketch  of  it 
has  been  published  in  the  "  Excursions  aux  Alpes,"  by 
Desor,  p.  157.  During  the  night  the  cabin  was  chris- 
tened by  the  name  "  Hotel  des  Neuchatelois,"  which 
was  engraved  by  the  mason  in  big  letters  on  the  block, 
and  the  names  of  the  first  six  occupants  were  a  few 
days  after  added.  They  were  Louis  Agassiz,  Charles 
Vogt,  Ed.  Desor,  Celestin  Nicolet,  Henri  Coulon, 
Francois  de  Pourtales,  the  last  two  being  students  at 
the  Neuchatel  Academy. 

Observations  were  begun  at  once  on  every  point 
pertaining  to  glaciers,  including  structure,  motion, 
tables,  moraines,  neves,  climate  and  meteorology,  red 
snow,  crevasses,  etc.  Visitors  from  the  Grimsel  came 
now  and  then  ;  and,  to  the  great  joy  of  Agassiz,  one 
day  he   saw  wending  their  ways   with   some   difficulty 


1839-40.]  HOTEL   DES  NEUCHATELOIS.  165 

over  the  glacier  to  reach  his  "Hotel  des  Neuchatelois," 
his  wife,  her  sister,  Fraulein  Emmy  Braun,  and  his  son 
Alex.,  the  latter  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  the  guide 
Jacob.  That  day  the  dinner  on  the  glacier  was  par- 
ticularly luxurious,  fresh  provisions  having  come  with 
the  visitors,  and  the  pleasure  of  the  unexpected  meet- 
ing enlivened  the  otherwise  rather  rough  establishment, 
with  its  numerous  discomforts. 

After  a  visit  to  the  top  of  the  Strahleck,  the  party 
left  the  "  Hotel  des  Neuchatelois,"  after  a  stay  of  only 
six  days,  from  the  10th  to  the  16th  of  August,  1840. 
Before  returning  to  Neuchatel,  Agassiz  traversed  the 
Scheideck,  and  made  observations  on  the  glaciers  of 
Grindelwald,  of  Schwartzwald,  and  of  Rosenlaui ;  he 
visited  also  the  upper  part  of  the  glacier  of  the  Aar, 
and  passed  a  night  on  the  Siedelhorn. 

Directly  after  returning  to  Neuchatel,  Agassiz  left 
for  England.  During  the  meeting  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  in  September, 
at  Glasgow,  he  had  an  opportunity  to  see  how  little 
progress  the  glacial  question  had  made  among  English 
naturalists :  it  was  almost  unknown.  Buckland  alone, 
during  a  protracted  visit  to  Switzerland  in  1838,  and 
after  resisting  as  long  as  he  could  all  the  facts  concern- 
ing glacial  action,  was  at  last  converted  by  Agassiz  to 
the  new  theory.  But  his  conversion  had  no  other  effect 
on  English  geologists  than  to  bring  forward  a  semi- 
caricature  drawn  by  Thomas' Sopwith,  which  was  Largely 
circulated  as  a  portrait  of  Buckland  dressed  in  "  cos- 
tume of  the  glaciers,"  and  which  has  been  reproduced 
since  in  "Memoir  of  Sir  Roderick  Murchison,"  by  A. 


1 66  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

Geikie,  Vol.  I.,  p.  309.  The  reproduction  by  Archibald 
Geikie  is  not,  however,  a  complete  one ;  all  the  devices 
and  explanations  written  on  the  big  roller  of  maps  and 
under  the  scratched  stones  have  been  omitted,  and  even 
the  title  of  the  semi-caricature  has  been  altered.  It  is 
easy  to  see  the  reasons  for  these  suppressions  and  alter- 
ations. The  mining  engineer,  Thomas  Sopwith,  has 
stated  the  objections  made  against  the  glacial  theory  in 
such  childish  and  ridiculous  words,  that  to  repeat  them 
was  considered  by  Geikie  as  reflecting  little  credit  on  all 
those  who  made  fun  of  the  glacial  epoch,  with  Murchi- 
son  as  their  leader.1 

1  Here  is  the  exact  description  of  the  semi-caricature.  Buckland, 
equipped  as  a  glacialist,  stands  on  a  flat  bit  of  rock  covered  with  scratches, 
with  the  following  explanation:  "The  rectilinear  course  of  these  grooves 
corresponds  with  the  motions  of  an  immense  body,  the  momentum  of  which 
does  not  allow  it  to  change  its  course  upon  slight  resistance."  On  the 
polished  rocks  is  written  :  "  Prodigious  glacial  scratches";  and  in  order  to 
add  to  the  value  of  the  opposition  made  by  anti-glacialists,  the  author  has 
engraved,  just  under  the  last  sentence,  "Scratched  by  T.  Sopwith."  The 
title  of  the  drawing  is :  "  Costume  of  the  Glaciers."  Under  his  right 
arm  Buckland  holds  a  rather  large  and  long  roller,  with  the  inscription  on 
it :  "  Maps  of  ancient  glaciers."  At  his  feet,  on  his  right  side,  are  drawn : 
"Specimen  No.  I,  scratched  by  a  glacier  thirty-three  thousand  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty-three  years  before  the  Creation";  and  just  below,  another 
specimen  of  a  "  cailloux  strie,"  marked :  "  Scratched  by  a  cart-wheel  on 
Waterloo  Bridge  the  day  before  yesterday."  It  is  now  almost  incredible 
that  such  objections  should  have  been  able  to  elicit  anything  more  than  a 
smile  at  the  ignorance  of  plain  facts. 

Philip  Duncan  was  better  inspired,  when  he  wrote  in  his  poetic  "  Dia- 
logue between  Dr.  Buckland  and  a  Rocky  Boulder  "  :  — 

Boulder,  respondit. 
•         •••..... 
"  And  many  a  rock,  indented  with  sharp  force, 
And  still-seen  strice,  shows  my  ancient  course  : 
And  if  you  doubt  it,  go  with  friend  Agassiz 
And  view  the  signs  in  Scotland  and  Swiss  passes." 


1839-40-]  MURCHISON  OPPOSITION.  167 

Murchison,  in  a  letter  dated  Sept.  26,  1840,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  Glasgow  meeting  says :  "  Agassiz  gave  us  a 
great  field-day  on  Glaciers,  and  I  think  we  shall  end  in 
having  a  compromise  between  himself  and  us  of  the 
floating  icebergs  !  I  spoke  against  the  general  applica- 
tion of  his  theory."  This  was  precisely  what  was  to  be 
expected  from  the  English  geologists,  who  are  always 
strongly  disinclined  to  accept  any  new  truth,  if  dis- 
covered by  foreigners.  Even  the  Uniformitarians,  at 
that  time  already  very  numerous  in  England,  with 
Charles  Lyell  as  their  leader,  did  not  see  the  splendid 
opportunity  to  add  a  new  crown  of  laurels  to  Uniformi- 
tarianism,  or  the  doctrine  of  existing  causes,  and  they 
persisted  in  getting  entangled  among  masses  of  floating 
iceberg. 

In  company  with  Murchison,  Agassiz  visited  the 
North  of  Scotland  to  see  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  and 
its  fishes.  During  the  journey  Agassiz  found  a  great 
number  of  traces  of  ancient  glaciers,  and  in  vain 
showed  them  to  Murchison,  who,  on  the  29th  of 
October,  wrote  to  Sir  Philip  Egerton :  "  If  you  have 
not  been  frost-bitten  by  Buckland,  you  have,  at  all 
events,  had  plenty  of  friction,  scratching,  and  polishing, 
before  now,  and  next  year  you  may  give  us  a  paper  on 
the  glacier  of  Wyvis  and  the  '  moraines '  on  which  you 
sport !  I  intend  to  make  fight."  On  a  question  in  regard 
to  which  he  knew  next  to  nothing. 

However,  Murchison's  "fight'  amounted  to  the  old 
rehearsal  of  the  floating  iceberg  theory  and  mud  cur- 
rents, two  exploded  doctrines,  rather  antiquated  even  in 
England  after  Agassiz's  visit  of  1840. 


1 68  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

On  the  4th  of  November,  1840,  Agassiz  read  before 
the  Geological  Society  of  London  his  paper  "  On 
Glaciers,  and  the  Evidence  of  their  having  once  existed 
in  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  England "  ("  Proceed.  Geol. 
Soc.  London,"  Vol.  III.,  pp.  327-332).  This  memoir  — 
a  masterly  one  —  opened  a  new  chapter  in  the  geology 
of  the  British  Isles.  In  the  "  Life  of  Murchison,"  by 
Archibald  Geikie,  we  find  the  biographer  saying  (p.  309, 
Vol.  I.)  that  "  the  remarkable  series  of  observations  by 
Agassiz  among  the  glaciers  of  the  Alps,  and  the  exten- 
sion of  them  to  Scotland  by  Buckland,  Lyell,  and  Agassiz 
himself,"  —  a  sentence  which  seems  to  imply  that  Agassiz 
came  after  Buckland  and  Lyell.  The  man  who  with  great 
difficulty,  and  after  a  stout  and  protracted  resistance, 
during  a  prolonged  visit  to  Switzerland,  in  1838,  taught 
Buckland  how  to  recognize  traces  of  ancient  glaciers,  is 
represented  as  occupying  only  a  third  place  in  the 
discovery  of  the  evidence  of  the  existence  of  glaciers  in 
Scotland.  The  truth  is,  that  Buckland,  after  being 
converted  to  the  new  doctrine,  informed  Agassiz  that 
he  had  noticed  similar  phenomena  in  Scotland,  but  had 
attributed  them  to  diluvial  action.  He  waited  until 
Agassiz  came  to  Scotland,  and  it  was  when  in  his  com- 
pany that  Agassiz  said,  as  they  approached  the  castle 
of  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  "  Here  we  shall  find  our  first 
traces  of  glaciers "  ;  and  surely  enough,  the  carriage 
as  it  entered  the  valley  rode  over  an  ancient  terminal 
moraine.  Then,  and  not  until  then,  Buckland  was  made 
sure  that  his  indications  were  well  based.  It  is  impor- 
tant to  add  that  Buckland  did  not  claim  any  priority. 
On  the  contrary,  he  read  his  memoir  "  On  the  Evidences 


1839-40.]  LETTER    TO   HUMBOLDT.  169 

of  Glaciers  in  Scotland  and  the  North  of  England,"  after 
Agassiz's  paper,  and  to  sustain  him  by  what  he  had 
learned  in  his  company  during  the  fall  and  afterwards. 
At  present,  to  make  amends  for  their  slowness  in 
recognizing  old  glaciers,  the  Scotch  geologists,  with 
James  Geikie  at  their  head,  are  claiming  that  they  had 
found  evidences  of  the  existence  of  no  less  than  five 
glacial  periods  during  the  Quaternary  epoch. 

Agassiz's  three-months  visit  in  the  British  Isles  dur- 
ing the  autumn  of  1840  may  be  counted  as  his  most 
successful  period  of  happy  and  important  discoveries, 
and  he  returned  with  the  great  satisfaction  of  having 
extended  the  glacial  doctrine  to  Scotland,  the  North  of 
England,  and  Ireland,  and  having  first  explained  the 
complicated  organization  of  the  fossil  flying-fishes  of 
the  Old  Red  Sandstone.  The  following  letter  to 
Humboldt  gives  an  excellent  resume  of  his  three 
months'  exploration :  — 

Neuchatel,  27  dec,  1840. 

a  Son  Excellence  M.  A.  de  Humboldt. 

Mon   Cher  et  Excellent  Ami,  —  Je  suis  de  retour  a.  Neuch 
depuis  huit  jours  et  deja  je  me  suis  remis  au  travail.     J'ai  pris  la 
ferme  resolution  de  ne  rien  faire  cet  hiver  que  des  "  Poissons  fos- 
siles"  et  j^spere  achever  mon  ouvrage  avant  Pete.     Pour  y  parvenir 
je  ne  publierai  pour  le  moment  que  les  mille  especes  les  plus  i;. 
ressantes  de  maniere  a  en  faire  un  corps  d'ouvrage  lie  et  je  don- 
nerai  plus  tard  dans  un  Supplement  6  a  700  especes  que  je  n'ai  ; 
encore  complement  etudiees.     Mon  dernier  voyage  en  Angleterre 
nVa  fait  faire  des  progres  reels  en  Ichthyologie  fossile  ;  j'ai  surtout 
etendu  mes  observations  sur  les  especes  siluriennes,  deVonienn 
et    houilleres.      Les    genres    de    P  -  Old    Red1'    sont    surtout    ti 
remarquables.     Le  prc'tendu  Cole'optere  gigantesque  de  Fifeshire  l 

1  "  History  of  the  County  of  Fife,"  by  J.  Anderson,  410,  Edinburgh. 


r7o  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

est  un  poisson  Pterichthysl  J'ai  cTautres  types  tout  aussi  extraordi- 
naires  Coccosteus.  Ce  qu'il  y  a  de  tres  curieux  e'est  que  tous  ces 
poissons  ont  des  tetes  disproportionnees,  egalant.  depassant  meme 
le  tronc  en  longueur  et  toujours  de  beaucoup  plus  larges,  dans  le 
style  des  Torpiles,  mais  a  charpente  osseuse  et  couverts  de  larges 
ecussons  emailles  On  m'a  communique  en  somme  environ  250 
especes  nouvelles.  J'ai  egalement  examine  un  nombre  immense 
d'Echinodermes.  Heureusement  que  j'ai  obtenu  des  exemplaires 
de  la  plupart  des  especes,  car  mon  temps  n'aurait  pas  suffi  pour  les 
decrire  en  detail. 

Cependant  je  vous  avouerai  que  ce  qui  nVa  fait  le  plus  de  plaisir 
e'est  d'avoir  decouvert  des  traces  indubitables  de  glaciers  sur  une 
tres  grande  echelle.  Les  marques  de  leur  presence  sont  si  frappantes 
que  tous  les  geoloques  qui  les  ont  vues  sont  restes  convaincus  du 
fait.  Depuis  que  j'ai  rendu  compte  de  mes  observations  a  la  Societe 
geologique  (de  Londres),  les  memoires  sur  ce  sujet  se  succedent. 
Buckland  a  decrit  ceux  qu'il  a  observe  au  centre  de  PEcosse  et  au 
Nord-Ouest  de  FAngleterre  ;Lyell  ceux  du  Forfarshire.  Pour  moi  je 
m'etais  surtout  applique  a.  demontrer  qu'ils  ont  reellement  existe  dans 
les  Isles  Britanniques,  apres  en  avoir  suivi  les  traces  presque  dans 
toute  TEcosse,  au  Nord,  a  TOuest  au  Centre  et  au  Sud  de  Tlrlande 
et  dans  tout  le  Nord  de  TAngleterre.  J'ai  retrouve  les  memes  sur- 
faces polies  qu'en  Suisse,  les  memes  moraines  laterales  et  terminales, 
la  meme  disposition  rayonnante  du  centre  des  chaines  de  montagnes 
vers  la  plaine,  les  lacs  partout  egalement  proteges  contre  le  remplis- 
sage  par  les  glaciers  qui  en  occupaient  le  fond. 

Je  me  suis  assure  que  toutes  les  routes  paralleles  de  Glen  Roy  et  de 
Glen  Spear  ont  ete  produits  par  des  lacs  flottant  des  glaces  et  barres 
par  de  grands  glaciers  dont  on  voit  encore  la  direction  aux  traces 
qu'ils  ont  laisses  au  fond  des  vallees,  comme  si  les  glaciers  d'Argen- 
tiere  et  des  Bossons  barraient  la  vallee  de  Chamounix  au-dessus 
et  au-dessous  du  Prieure  de  maniere  a  transformer  la  vallee  en  un 
lac.  Le  fond  de  Glen  Spear  est  strie  transversalement.  Le  fait 
le  plus  extraordinaire,  Tabsence  des  deux  routes  paralleles  superi- 
eures  dans  la  partie  orientale  de  Glen  Spear  se  trouve  maintenant 
expliquee  ! 

J'ai  accumule'  tant  de  preuves  que  personne   en  Angleterre   ne 


1839-40-]  LETTER    TO  HUMBOLDT.  171 

doute  maintenant  que  les  glaciers  iVy  aient  existe,  et  ceux  la  qui  en 
ont  le  plus  vu  ont  ete  convaincu  les  premiers  :  Sabine,  Sir  George 
Mackensie.  Je  n'ai  trouve  d'opposition  que  contre  Textension  que 
je  leur  attribue,  encore  cette  opposition  ne  s'appuie-t-elle  deja  plus 
que  sur  Pinvraisemblance,  quelques  uns  disent  Timpossibilite  phy- 
sique d'un  refroidissement  temporaire  assez  considerable  pour  avoir 
couvert  PEurope  d'une  calotte  de  glace.  Cependant  j'ai  observe 
mes  surfaces  polies  et  stries  jusqiCau  niveau  de  la  mer  sur  toute 
la  plaine  qui  s'abaisse  d'Enniskillen  vers  Dublin ;  la  les  stries  sont 
dirigees  du  N.  O  au  S.  E.,  puis  sur  la  cote  occidentale  d'Ecosse  ou 
je  les  ai  meme  vu  plonger  sous  la  mer,  elles  vont  du  N.  E.  au  S.  O. 
dans  certaines  vallees  et  du  S.  E.  au  N.  O.  dans  d'autres ;  sur  la 
cote  orientale  d'Ecosse  elles  vont  de  FOuest  a  PEst  le  plus  souvent. 
Dans  Tinterieur  j'en  ai  vu  qui  etaient  dirigees  du  Nord  au  Sud,  et 
ailleurs  d'autres  marchant  du  Sud  au  Nord.  Notez  bien  que  par- 
tout  la  direction  des  stries  et  des  moraines  indique  une  marche  cen- 
trifuge, et  nulle  part  un  refoulement  allant  des  cotes  de  la  mer  a 
Tinterieur  des  terres.  Impossible  des  lors  de  songer  a  des  courants. 
Si  Ton  pouvait  penser  a  un  rehaussement  du  sol,  les  lacs  et  les  routes 
paralleles  s'y  opposeraient,  et  pour  cela  d'ailleurs  il  faudrait  un  sou- 
levement  simultane  des  montagnes  partout  ou  le  phenomene  a  ete 
observe,  ce  que  la  geologie  dement. 

Les  observations  paleontologiques  de  Mr.  James  Smith  de  Lar- 
denhill  ne  contribueront  pas  peu  a.  etablir  ma  theorie.  II  vient  de 
decouvrir  une  faune  arctique,  sur  les  bords  de  la  Clyde,  dans  les 
limons  superposes  aux  detritus  des  glaciers,  a  40,  50,  80  pieds  au- 
dessus  du  niveau  de  la  mer.  Les  especes  sont  identiques  avec  celles 
qui  vivent  maintenant  au  detroit  de  Behring,  et  different  complete- 
ment  de  celles  qui  vivent  sur  les  cotes  d'Ecosse. 

Les  observations  d'Herschel  sur  les  etoiles  variables  et  perio- 
diques  pouront  peut-etre  rendre  un  jour  compte  de  ce  refroidisse- 
ment. 

Je  suis  desole  d'etre  oblige  de  m'occuper  maintenant  de  Poissons 
fossiles  et  de  devoir  laisser  vieillir  toutes  les  observations  que  j'ai 
faites  sur  ce  sujet,  tant  pendant  ma  course  dans  les  Alpes  au  mois 
d'Aout  que  dans  mon  voyage  en  Angleterre,  mais  je  ne  cederai  pas 
a  la  tentation  et  les  "  Poissons  fossiles  "  s'acheveront  avant  que  je 


1 72  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

retourne  aux  glaciers,  sauf  une  apparition  que  je  compte  y  faire  au 
plus  fort  de  Phiver  pour  verifier  quelques  signaux.  Un  heureux 
evenement  m'a  un  peu  remonte  du  decouragement  sous  Tinfiuence 
duquel  je  vous  ecrivis  de  Glasgow.  J'ai  vendu  les  dessins  origi- 
naux  de  mes  Poissons  Fossiles,1  en  sorte  que  j'aurai  quelques  mois 
exempts  d'inquietudes. 

J'espere  que  vous  avez  recu  mes  "  Etudes  sur  les  Glaciers  "  ;  ne 
les  jugez  pas  trop  severement  comme  livre ;  je  suis  trop  peu  au 
courant  de  ce  qui  s'est  fait  en  physique  pour  avoir  pu  tenir  compte 
de  tout  ce  que  Ton  sait  et  eviter  les  redites ;  mais  du  moins  j'ai 
observe  avec  tout  le  soin  dont  j'etais  capable  et  j'ai  la  conscience 
d'avoir  eloignee  toute  idee  systematique  dans  l'exposition  des  faits 
pour  etre  plus  libre  de  me  donner  carriere  dans  le  dernier  chapitre. 
Vous  me  rendriez  un  grand  service  en  m'ecrivant  bien  franchement 
ce  que  vous  en  pensez  quant  au  fond ;  j'ai  pris  Thabitude  de  profiter 
des  critiques  et  quand  elles  viennent  d'un  ami  comme  vous,  ce  sont 
de  veritables  bienfaits. 

Je  vous  adresserai  par  la  premiere  occasion  les  Comptes  Rendus 
des  seances  de  la  Societe  Geologique  de  Londres,  que  Buckland  m'a 
remis  pour  vous  et  ou  vous  trouverez  quelques  autres  detailes  sur  la 
question  des  glaciers. 

II  parait  qu'Elie  de  Beaumont  veut  s'obstiner  a  nier  meme  les 
faits  les  plus  evidents.  C'est  ainsi  qu'il  m'affirmait  l'autre  jour  h 
Paris  que  les  roches  polies  et  striees  qui  se  trouvent  so  us  les  glaciers 
memes  et  dont  la  direction  coincide  avec  le  mouvement  actuel  des 
glaciers  avaient  deja  la  meme  apparence  avaut  la  formation  des 
glaciers.  Des  masses  d'un  pareil  poids  ont  done  pu  se  mouvoir 
pendant  des  milliers  d'anne'es  sur  un  calcaire  aussi  mou  que  celui 
de  la  vallee  de  Rosenlaui  sans  deranger  un  atdme  de  matiere!!  Puis 
e'est  le  courant  de  TOber  Hassli  qui  en  bondissant  de  Meyringen 
a  creuse  le  lac  de  Brienz  et  d\m  second  "coup  celui  de  Thun!!  Ou 
done  naissaient  tous  ces  courants  alpins  pour  se  verser  a  la  fois  au 
Sud,  a  TEst  et  au  Nord  avec  une  velocite  suffisante  pour  lancer  sur 
le  Jura  des  blocs  de  60,000  pieds  cubes!     M.  de  Beaumont  pre'tend 

1  Lord  Francis  Egerton,  a  relative  of  Sir  Philip  Egerton,  made  the  pur* 
chase  and  generously  presented  them  to  the  British  Museum. 


1839-40]  LETTER   TO  HUMBOLDT.  173 

que  ce  sont  des  debacles  de  glaciers ;  mais  alors  ce  devraient  etre 
des  glaciers  plus  considerables  que  maintenant  et  il  devait  y  avoir 
des  glaciers  partout  ou  le  phenomene  des  blocs  erratiques  se  pre- 
sente  avec  les  memes  caracteres  qu'en  Suisse.  Au  lieu  de  refuter 
ma  theorie ;  celle  de  M.  de  Beaumont  la  suppose  comme  antece- 
dent, c'est-a-dire  qu'elle  n'embrasse  qu'une  petite  partie  du  phe- 
nomene, celle  du  retrait  successif  des  glaciers. 

Peu  s'en  est  fallu  que  Murchison  ne  m'ait  devance  dans  la  de- 
couverte*des  glaciers  en  Ecosse.  Dans  son  systeme  Silurien  il 
suppose  qu'il  a  du  exister  de  grandes  etendues  de  glaces  qui  auraient 
charrie  les  graviers  et  les  blocs  soit-disant  diluviens,  mais  il  n'a  pas 
songe  a  en  chercher  les  traces.  Et  chose  curieuse,  durant  nos  dis- 
cussions personne  ne  s'est  oppose  plus  obstinement  que  lui  a  l'exis- 
tence  des  glaciers,  qu'il  a  cependant  fini  par  admettre  aussi.1 

Au  moment  ou  j'ai  quitte  Londres,  Buckland  partait  pour  le  pays 
de  Galles  011  je  n'ai  pu  aller  et  ou  il  trouvera  certainement  des  choses 
curieuses.  Mais  j'oublie  que  Phiver  approche  et  que  deja  vous  devez 
avoir  a.  Berlin  plus  de  glaces  que  vous  n'en  voulez  sans  celles  dont 
je  viens  de  vous  charger  a  profusion.  Je  n'ose  rien  vous  dire  pour 
M.  de  Buch  quoique  je  l'aime  toujours  de  tout  mon  cceur,  on  nVa  dit 
qu'a  Erlangen  (Societe  Allemande  des  naturalistes)  il  s'etait  fache 
tout  rouge  contre  moi  parce  que  je  fais  les  glaciers  assez  grands 
pour  fournir  de  Teau  necessaire  a.  ses  courants. 

Adieu,  mon  bien  cher  ami,  ecrivez  moi  bientot  quelques  lignes, 
vos  lettres  sont  toujours  pour  moi  des  tresors,  car  elles  me  donnent 

1  It  seems  that  Murchison,  a  short  time  afterward,  again  changed  his 
views,  and  returned  to  the  floating  iceberg  and  mud  current  theory;  for  in 
his  "Geology  of  Russia,"  1845,  ne  rejected  "the  glacier  theory,"  explain- 
ing the  Scandinavian  drift  and  erratic  blocks  in  Russia  by  trainees  under 
the  sea,  made  by  "  moistened  masses  of  drift,  under  powerful  causes  of 
translation  " ;  and  in  his  address  at  the  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Geo- 
logical Society  of  London,  1842,  he  says:  "The  existence  of  glaciers  in 
Scotland  and  England  is  not,  at  all  events,  established  to  the  satisfaction 
of  what  I  believe  to  be  by  far  the  greater  number  of  British  g 
It  was  not  until  more  than  twenty  years  after  Agassiz's  visit  of  1S40,  that 
at  last,  in  1S62,  Murchison  wrote  him  that  he  was  wrong  in  opposing  as 
he  did  the  glacial  period.     He  took  time  to  consider! 


174  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vii. 

ce  courage  et  ce  contentement  cTesprit  sans  lesquels  on  ne  fait  rien 
de  bon.  Ce  qui  me  fait  surtout  croire  que  j'ai  bien  vu  en  Ecosse, 
c'est  (|ue  c'est  a  vous  que  je  rendais  compte  mentalement  de  mes 
observations. 

Votre  tout  devoue  pour  la  vie, 

Louis  Agassiz. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

1841-1842. 
Visit  during  the  Winter  to  the  Aar  Glacier  —  Letters  to  Jules 

THURMANN  AND  TO  EUGENIO  SlSMONDA  —  "  MONOGRAPHIE  D'ECHINO- 
DERMES   VIVANTS   ET    FOSS1LES  "  —  LETTER    TO    DESHAYES  —  ANOTHER 

Letter  to  Thurmann — Visit  of  James  D.  Forbes  at  the  "Hotel 

DES  NEUCHATELOIS  " — ASCENT  OF  THE  JUNGFRAU  —  OTHER  VISITORS 
AT  THE   "  H6TEL   DES  NEUCHATELOIS  " —  FORBES  AT  NeUCHATEL  AND 

La  Chaux-de-fonds  —  Inauguration  of  the  Academy  of  Neu- 
chatel,  l8th  of  november,  184i — agassiz's  letter  to  the  rec- 
TOR of  the  Academy  —  His  Appointment  as  Rector  for  the 
Year  i 842-1 843  —  Controversy  with  James  D.  Forbes  on  the 
laminated  Structure  of  Glaciers  —  A  New  Cabin  to  replace 
the  "  Hotel  des  Neuchatelois" —  Stay  at  the  Aar  Glacier  from 
the  Beginning  of  July,  1842,  to  the  Middle  of  September  — 
Discoveries  of  John  Tyndall  —  Dispute  with  Karl  Schimper  — 
Daniel  Dollfus-Ausset. 

The  winter  of  1841  was  so  rainy  at  Neuchatcl,  and 
in  consequence  so  much  fresh  snow  fell  on  the  Ober- 
land  Alps,  that  Agassiz  was  obliged  to  postpone  his 
proposed  visit  to  the  "  Hotel  des  Neuchatelois '  until 
the  8th  of  March.  On  that  day  he  left  Neuchatcl  with 
his  secretary,  reaching  the  Grimsel  three  days  later, 
without  very  great  difficulty.  An  hour  before  their 
arrival,  the  guardian  of  the  hospice  was  advised  by  the 
movements  of  his  dog,  a  fine  and  very  large  Newfound- 
land, that  some  one  was  approaching.  As  is  often  tin- 
case  in  the  Alps  and  mountainous  country,  the  temper- 

i7S 


176  LOUIS  AGASS1Z.  [chap.  viii. 

ature  was  higher  at  the  Grimsel  than  at  Interlaken. 
The  amount  of  snow  was  enormous ;  the  hospice  was 
buried  in  it ;  and  when  the  travellers,  after  a  rather 
exhausting  walk,  reached  the  place  where  the  "  Hotel 
des  Xeuchatelois  "  should  have  been,  they  were  greatly 
surprised  to  see  nothing  of  it  but  a  sort  of  hump  on  the 
crest  of  snow  which  covered  the  moraine.  However, 
after  forcing  their  way  around  this  hump,  they  found 
on  one  side  a  few  feet  of  the  big  boulder.  It  was 
impossible  to  enter  it  without  clearing  away  an  enor- 
mous mass  of  snow ;  so  Agassiz  contented  himself  with 
lying  down  on  the  snow,  and  enjoying  the  marvellous 
spectacle  around  him.  The  weather  was  perfect ;  the 
air  so  clear  that  every  topographical  feature  of  the 
Finsteraarhorn  and  other  peaks  was  seen  with  a  dis- 
tinctness unknown  during  the  summer  season.  The 
travellers  went  as  far  as  the  Abschwung,  then  returned 
to  the  place  of  the  "  Hotel  des  Neuchatelois,"  where 
they  saw  the  tops  of  two  very  high  stakes  placed  there 
in  the  preceding  August  in  holes  bored  into  the  ice. 
Agassiz  remained  behind  with  one  guide  to  make  sev- 
eral observations  with  a  thermometrograph,  and  finally 
returned  to  the  Grimsel,  after  a  journey  of  twelve  hours, 
from  4  o'clock  a.m.  to  4  o'clock  p.m.,  somewhat  tired, 
but  very  happy  in  his  success ;  for  he  was  certainly 
the  first  visitor  to  the  Aar  Glacier  in  the  winter  season. 
From  the  Grimsel  Agassiz  crossed  by  Meyringen  to 
Rosenlaui,  where  he  visited  the  glacier  to  examine  the 
polishing  of  the  rocks  in  contact  with  the  ice,  and  also 
to  determine  the  quantity  of  water  arising  from  the 
glacier.     And  in  regard  to  the  latter  point,  like  de  Saus- 


1841-42.]  LETTER   TO   THURMANN.  177 

sure  at  the  glacier  des  Bois  at  Chamounix,  he  concluded 
that  during  the  winter  the  glacier  yielded  only  spring 
water.  A  week  after  leaving  Neuchatel  they  returned 
home  rather  sunburned  by  their  exposure  to  the  intense 
sunlight  on  the  snow-field  they  had  travelled  over. 

We  have  seen  in  the  last  letter  to  Humboldt  that 
Agassiz  gathered  a  large  collection  of  fossil  echino- 
derms  during  his  stay  in  England  in  1840.  He  had 
done  the  same  in  passing  through  Paris,  and  was  very 
diligent  in  getting  specimens  from  every  geologist  liv- 
ing among  the  Jura  Mountains, —  as  Thurmann  of 
Porrentruy,  d'Udressier  and  Parandier  of  Besancon, 
and  Merian  of  Bale.  The  following  letter  to  Jules 
Thurmann  gives  some  rather  curious  details :  — 

LE  7,  1840  or  1841  ?  (date  not  distinct). 

Monsieur,  —  Void  la  premiere  livraison  de  mes  Echinodermes, 
j'y  joins  la  premiere  des  Etudes  critiques  sur  les  Mollusgues,  quoique 
le  texte  ne  soit  pas  encore  pret,  dans  l'espoir  que  vous  aurez  peut- 
etre  a  me  communiquer  quelques  Trigonies  ou  Myes  que  je  n*ai  pas 
et  que  je  pourrais  encore  ajouter  a  mes  planches.  Le  prix  des 
Echinodermes  est  de  10  francs,  je  reclamerai  celui  des  Mollusques 
en  vous  envoyant  le  texte. 

Je  viens  de  faire  demander  a.  M.  Nicolet  les  deux  premieres 
livraisons  de  Sowerby,  la  $feme  est  tres  avancee  ;  le  prix  de  la  livraison 
coioriee  est  de  10  francs.  M.  Nicolet  vous  enverra  lui-meme  par 
occasions  les  livraisons. 

Je  pense  que  vous  apprendrez  avec  plaisir  que  Gressly  a  repris  son 
activate  d'autrefois ;  jai  recu  depuis  peu  plusieurs  bonnes  lettres  do 
lui.  Excusez-moi  de  tant  tarder  de  vous  envoyer  mes  rnoules  :  j'ai 
encore  eu  des  chagrins  de  famille  cet  hiver  qui  m'ont  fait  passer 
plusieurs  semaines  en  Allemagne  et  singulierement  de'range'  mes 
affaires  ;  des  que  je  le  pourrai  je  rcparerai  mes  torts. 

Votre  tres  de'vouc  serviteur, 

Agassiz. 

N 


I78  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

The  following  is  another  letter  written  about  the  same 

time:  — 

Monsieur  Eugene  Sismoxda, 

assistant  au  Musee  royal  de  Mineralogie.  Turin. 

Monsieur  et  tres  hanorc  collcgue,  —  De  retour  d'Angleterre  apres 
une  absence  de  pres  de  quatre  mois  j'ai  le  plaisir  de  recevoir  votre 
aimable  lettre.  Je  suis  charm  6  d'entrer  en  relation  directe  avec  vous, 
qui  par  vos  beaux  travaux  geologiques  avez  si  puissament  contribue 
a  l'avancement  de  la  science.  II  y  aura  tout  profit  pour  moi  a  sou- 
tenir  une  correspondance  suivie  avec  vous.  J'accepte  avec  plaisir 
votre  proposition  d'echange ;  je  puis  vous  remettre  au  moins  600 
moules  d'Echinides  fossiles  accompagnes  d'un  catalogue  syste- 
matique  et  d'une  caracteristique  des  genres  nouveaux  que  j'ai  etablis. 
Je  recevrai  volontiers  en  echange  des  coquilles,  des  Zoophites  et  des 
Echinides  de  tous  vos  terrains  dltalie,  meme  les  especes  les  plus 
communes.  Je  de'sire  beaucoup  obtenir  des  series  d'exemplaires  de 
differents  ages. 

Dans  des  echanges  de  ce  genre  j'ai  generalement  demande  un 
fossile  contre  un  moule  a  raison  des  frais  considerables  que  leur 
execution  m'a  occasionne,  sans  compter  jamais  rigoureusement, 
comme  cela  convient  entre  gens  qui  doivent  avoir  en  vue  les  interets 
de  la  science  plutot  que  la  depense  qui  en  resulte  pour  eux.  Outre 
ces  moules  d'oursins  j'en  possede  beaucoup  de  ]\lollusques,  de 
Poissons,  de  Mamiferes  et  5  a  600  especes  de  Mollusques  des 
terrains  secondaires  en  nature,  dont  je  puis  disposer  pour  echanges. 
C'est  assez  vous  dire  que  j'ai  d'amples  materiaux  pour  des  envois 
considerables  et  j'attends  seulement  pour  vous  expedier  une  pre- 
miere caisse  qui  peut  etre  prete  dans  trois  jours,  que  vous  vouliez  bien 
me  dire  quel  nombre  d'exemplaires  vous  avez  de  disponible,  ou  plu- 
tot quelle  etendue  vous  desirez  que  je  donne  a  mon  premier  envoi. 

Je  suis  tres  Matte  de  la  dedicace  que  vous  me  faites  d'un  de  vos 
Echinides  et  je  me  rejouis  a  l'avance  d'apprendre  a  le  connaitre. 

Agreez,  Monsieur,   Tassurance    de   ma   consideration,  tres    dis- 

tinguee. 

Ls.  Agassiz. 
Neuchatel  en  Suisse, 

le  24  decembre,  1840. 


1841-42-]     MONOGRAPHIE  DES  ECHINODERMES.       179 

We  have  in  these  two  letters  a  glimpse  of  Agassiz's 
method  of  collecting  specimens,  making  exchanges,  and 
disposing  of  his  publications. 

The  success  of  the  "  Fossiles  du  terrain  cretace  du 
Jura  Neuchatelois,"  of  the  "  Prodrome  d'une  Mono- 
graphic des  Echinodermes,"  and  of  "Echinodermes  fos- 
siles de  la  Suisse,"  all  published  at  the  expense  of  the 
Societe  des  Sciences  Naturelles  de  Neuchatel  and  of 
the  Societe  Helvetique  des  Sciences  Naturelles,  led 
Agassiz  to  undertake,  at  his  own  expense,  the  publica- 
tion  of  "  Monographies  d'Echinodermes  vivants  et  fos- 
siles," with  many  beautifully  executed  plates.  It  was 
an  unfortunate  undertaking,  very  expensive  on  account 
of  the  great  number  of  plates,  and  without  proper  pat- 
ronage from  naturalists  to  make  it  profitable.  Only  four 
monographs  or  "  livraisons  "  were  issued  between  1838 
and  1842.  The  first,  on  "  Salenies,"  1838,  shows  good 
work,  and  is  very  creditable  in  all  respects,  and  worthy 
of  the  name  which  signs  it ;  the  second,  on  "  Scutelles ' 
(July,  1 841),  although  containing  many  new  facts  and 
an  interesting  history  of  the  progress  of  the  natural 
history  of  the  echinoderms,  besides  twenty-seven  most 
exact  and  beautiful  plates,  did  not  attract  much  at- 
tention; while  the  third  "  livraison,"  containing  the 
"Galerites"  and  "  Dysaster "  (1842),  is  by  E.  Desor. 
Agassiz  helped  in  the  revision  of  the  proof-sheets ; 
but,  on  the  whole,  the  work  shows  a  noticeable  inferi- 
ority to  all  the  previous  publications  on  the  echino- 
derms. 

The    fourth   "livraison'     (1842),   the    manuscript    of 
which    was    written    in    German    and    translated    into 


1S0  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  vill. 

French,  treats  the  anatomy  of  the  genus  Echinus,  and  is 
by  Professor  G.  Valentin  of  Berne ;  and  its  nine  plates, 
several  of  them  double,  are  remarkably  well  drawn  by 
Dickmann.  After  the  issue  of  the  fourth  "livraison,"  the 
publication  was  stopped  and  never  resumed.  This  fine 
work,  forming  a  large  4to  volume,  is  dedicated  to  "  M. 
Valenciennes,  Professeur  de  Zoologie  au  Jardin  des 
Plantes  et  a  M.  Paul  Deshayes,  Professeur  de  Conchyli- 
ologie  a  Paris."  In  this  way  Agassiz  tried  to  conciliate 
two  naturalists,  who  had  nothing  in  common  except  a 
disagreement  in  regard  to  an  appointment  obtained  by 
pure  favour  for  Valenciennes,  against  all  justice  and  the 
right  claim  of  Deshayes.  For,  through  the  influence  of 
Humboldt  and  the  help  of  Agassiz,  Valenciennes  was 
elected  professor  of  conchology  and  zoophytology  at 
the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  —  a  most  unfortunate  choice,  for 
he  knew  next  to  nothing  of  these  two  difficult  branches 
of  invertebrate  zoology,  having  only  a  knowledge  of  liv- 
ing fishes,  obtained  as  an  assistant  of  George  Cuvier  ; 
while  Deshayes,  on  the  other  hand,  was  regarded  by 
every  naturalist,  not  only  in  France,  but  also  in  other 
countries,  as  the  ablest  conchologist  of  his  time.1  Agas- 
siz, hoping  to  mend  matters  and  to  help  in  healing  the 
wound  inflicted  on  Deshayes,  conceived  the  strange 
notion  of  uniting  in  a  dedication  the  two  names  of 
Valenciennes  and  Deshayes,  placing  Valenciennes 
before    Deshayes.     He   very  well   knew  that   he   was 

1  Thirty  years  later,  in  1869,  Deshayes  was  at  last  appointed  Professor 
of  Conchology  at  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  seventy- 
two  years,  an  act  of  justice  due  to  M.  V.  Duruy,  then  Secretary  of  Public 
Instruction. 


1841-42.]  LETTER    TO   DESHA  YES.  181 

treading  on  dangerous  ground,  as  the  following  letter 
to  M.  Deshayes  shows  :  — 

Neuchatel,  le  27  fevrier,  1839. 

Monsieit?-,  —  Desirant  vous  donner  un  te'moignage  public  de  ma 
reconnaissance  pour  les  communications  importantes  que  vous 
m'avez  faites  sur  les  oursins  fossiles,  j1ai  pris  la  liberte  de  vous 
dedier  conjointment  a  M.  Valenciennes  a  qui  je  dois  egalement 
des  communications  d'une  haute  valeur,  Touvrage  sur  cette  classe 
d'animaux,  dont  je  viens  de  publier  la  premiere  livraison. 

J'espere,  Monsieur,  que  vous  daignerez  accepter  cette  marque  de 
mon  estime  et  de  mon  amitie.  La  science  vous  doit  de  si  importants 
travaux,  trop  peu  recompenses,  dans  Tatmosphere  ou  vous  vivez, 
pour  que  je  ne  puisse  pas  esperer  trouver  de  la  sympathie  chez  un 
homme  qui  poursuit  ces  recherches  avec  un  tel  desinteressement. 
La  deuxieme  livraison,  qui  est  tres  avancee,  contiendra  les  Scutelles. 
Je  profiterai  de  toutes  les  occasions  que  j'aurai  pour  Paris  pour  vous 
retourner  vos  exemplaires  au  fur  et  a  mesure  qu'ils  seront  dessines. 
j'y  joindrai  les  moules  des  especes  que  vous  n"avez  pas  et  si  vous  le 
desirez  de  celles  des  votres  que  j'ai  pu  faire  mouler  sans  risque  de 
les  endommager.  lis  pourraient  vous  servir  a  faire  des  echanges. 
Veuillez  me  dire  si  vous  desirez  que  je  vous  en  fasse  couler  des 
epreuves 

Je  vous  adresse  egalement  la  premiere  livraison  encore  inachevee 
d'un  ouvrage  que  je  prepare  depuis  longtemps  sur  les  Mollusques 
fossiles  de  la  Suisse  principalement,  dans  lequel  je  me  propose  de 
traiter  aussi  differentes  questions  generates  de  Conchyliologie  et  sur- 
tout  celle  de  la  delimitation  des  genres  et  de  Tanalogie  des  especes 
fossiles  avec  les  especes  vivants.  Quoiqu'envisageant,  comme  \ous 
le  savez  ces  questions  un  peu  differemment  de  vous,  la  base  sur 
laquelle  j'ai  travaille  n'en  est  pas  moins  la  meme  et  e'est  la  un  point 
de  ralliement  infaillible  Fetude  consciencieuse  et  comparative  des 
faits.  Qu'apres  cela  il  me  paraisse  plus  utile  de  grouper  les  esp^  - 
d7apres  leurs  caracteres  plus  restreints  en  petites  groupes.  que  de  les 
reunir  d'apres  des  caracteres  plus  ge'ne'raux  en  grands  genres.  1  "est 
une  question  a.  debattre  ulte'rieuremcnt  et  le  re'sultat  auquel  on 
s'arretera  ne  changera  en  rien  la  valeur  des  observations  spdciales, 


1 82  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

La  definition  et  la  circonscription  des  especes  touche  deja  de  plus  pres 
a  I'importance  actuelle  que  Ton  attache  a  ce  genre  de  travail.  II  me 
parait  a  cet  dgard  que  la  facilite  de  distinguer  telle  ou  telle  serie  de 
formes  diverses  ne  pent  pas  etre  un  motif  absolu  pour  les  reunir  ou 
les  sdparer  et  qu'il  importe  de  rassembler  les  materiaux  les  plus  com- 
plets  sur  la  genealogie  de  chaque  type  avant  de  pouvoir  se  prononcer 
(Tune  maniere  invariable.  Cest  ainsi  que  la  possibilite  de  ratta- 
cher  a  une  souche  primitive  les  generations  actuelles  souvent  diverses 
de  telle  ou  telle  espece  fait  que  nous  ne  les  se'parons  pas  comme  autant 
d'especes  distinctes,  bien  que  souvent  les  individus  que  nous  reunis- 
sons  ainsi  different  d"avantage  entre  eux  que  ceux  d'autres  types  que 
nous  separons  a.  cause  de  la  fixite  de  leurs  caracteres.  Ces  principes 
de  la  zoologie  actuelle  me  paraissent  devoir  influer  ulterieurement 
sur  notre  maniere  d'envisager  Fanalogie  des  especes  fossiles  avec 
les  vivantes.  Je  crois  par  exemple  que  s'il  pouvait  etre  demontre 
geologiquement  que  certaines  especes  fossiles  que  nous  envisageons 
comme  identiques  avec  les  vivantes,  ont  cesse  d'exister  dans  des 
circonstances  telles  qu'il  serait  impossible  qu'elles  aient  pu  se  repro- 
duire  par  voie  de  generation  dans  l'epoque  suivante,  il  faudrait  alors 
envisager  ces  analogues  d'une  autre  epoque  comme  des  especes  par- 
ticulieres  procreez  dans  d'autres  temps  alors  meme  que  leur  ressem- 
blance  exterieure  rendrait  leur  distinction  tres  difficile.  II  me 
semble  qu'en  pareil  cas  le  fait  que  les  extremes  des  varietes  d'un 
type  fossile  se  lient  aussi  etroitement  aux  extremes  d"un  type 
vivant  que  leurs  varietes  entr'elles  n'emporte  pas  la  necessite  de 
la  reunion  des  deux  types  en  une  seule  espece.  Quoique  cette 
maniere  de  voir  ne  s'accorde  pas  en  tous  points  avec  certains  prin- 
cipes que  vous  avez  etablis  sur  la  determination  des  especes,  ils  ne 
me  paraissent  infirmer  en  aucune  facon  Timportance  des  faits  innom- 
brables  que  vous  avez  receuillis  sur  Tanalogie  des  especes  fossiles 
avec  les  vivantes,  puisque  vous  avez  toujours  signale  les  particu- 
larites  qui  distinguent  toutes  les  varietes  que  vous  avez  reunies 
dans  le  meme  type  specifique.  Je  pense  des  lors  que  vous  ne  re- 
pugnerez  pas  a.  faire  part  vous  meme  occasionellement  de  ces  obser- 
vations a  la  Societe  Geologique  (de  France). 

La  premiere  livraison  de  mes  "  Etudes  critiques  "  paraitra  dans 
le  courant  de  l'ete.     En  parcourant  ce  que  j'ai  pu  vous  en  envoyer 


1841-42-]  LETTER    TO  DES HAYES.  183 

des  aujourcThui,  vous  remarquerez  sans  cloute  que  j'ai  pris  toutes  les 
precautions  possibles  pour  eviter  de  multiplier  les  especes  sans  rai- 
son ;  ainsi  pour  les  Trigonies  j'ai  repre'sente'  une  serie  de  tous  les 
ages  de  la  Trigonia  navis  (du  Lias  Superieur  de  Gundershofen, 
Haut  Rhin,  recueillis  par  Gressly)  pour  prouver  que  quelques 
especes  nouvelles  que  j'ai  etablies  n'en  sont  pas  les  jeunes.  Quant 
a  la  famille  des  Myes  elle  a  eu  des  representants  bien  plus  nom- 
breux  et  plus  varies  dans  les  terrains  jurassiques,  qu'a  des  epoques 
plus  recentes,  et  la  diversity  des  types  que  j'ai  etudies  m'a  engage 
a  grouper  des  especes  (qui  cadraient  fort  mal  dans  les  genres 
admis  maintenant)  dans  plusieurs  genres  nouveaux  dont  je  donnerai 
tres  en  detail  les  caracteres  distinctifs  en  les  comparant  soit  entr'eux, 
soit  avec  des  genres  qui  ont  des  representants  maintenant. 

Si  votre  Conchyliologie  continue  a  paraitre  regulierement  j'at- 
tendrai  que  vous  ayez  publie  les  Myes  pour  emettre  ma  Monographic. 
Je  suis  enchante  des  deux  livraisons  qui  ont  deja  paru. 

Je  vous  adresse  enfin  les  premieres  planches  d'un  Memoire 1  que 
je  vais  inserer  pour  paraitre  incessamment  dans  le  second  volume  des 
Memoires  de  la  Societe  d'Histoire  Naturelle  de  Neuchatel.  Je 
pense  que  cette  publication  sera  utile  pour  la  determination  des 
moules  fossiles.  Si  vous  desirez  les  avoir  en  platre,  je  vous  les 
enverrai,  mais  comme  ils  appartiennent  a  notre  Musee,  vous  m'obli- 
gerez  de  m'envoyer  en  echange  de*s  fossiles  ou  des  coquilles 
vivantes.  Dans  ce  cas  je  vous  indiquerai  ce  qui  nous  manque 
surtout. 

Agreez,  Monsieur,  Tassurance  de  mon  parfait  devouement. 

Ls.  Agasstz. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  important  scientific  letters 
written  by  Agassiz,  showing  the  direction  of  his  mind 
and  his  preconceived  ideas  on  a  subject  which  he  advo- 
cated, more  or  less,  during  his  whole  life,  in  regard  to 
species  and  genera,  and  also  the  erroneous  notion  of 
the  confinement  of  species  to  each  group  of  formations, 

1  "  Memoire  sur  les  Moules  de  Mollusques  vivans  et  fossiles,  premiere 
partie;   Moule  d'Acephales  vivants."     410,1839. 


[84  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

against  the  plain  facts  brought  forward  by  Deshayes, 
demonstrating  the  passage  of  species  from  one  group 
to  another,  illustrated  so  vividly  in  the  great  Tertiary 
epoch  of  the  Paris  basin.  In  palaeontology  Agassiz  was 
an  absolutist  until  the  last  two  years  of  his  life,  when 
lie  abandoned  the  rigidity  of  his  principles  in  his  cele- 
brated prophetic  letter  to  Benjamin  Pierce  on  the  sup- 
posed existence  of  Ammonites,  Trilobites,  and  other 
lost  forms  of  marine  animals  at  great  depths.  These 
two  errors  are  the  most  remarkable  examples  of  the 
excess  of  his  imagination. 

Another  scientific  letter,  written  at  the  same  time  to 
Jules  Thurmann,  is  too  good  not  to  be  given  in  full. 

Neuchatel,  12  fevrier,  1842. 
Monsieur  Jules  Thurmann 
a  Porrentruy. 

Monsieur,  —  Gressly  m'a  fait  le  plaisir  de  me  communiquer  la 
lettre  que  vous  lui  avez  adressee  tout  recemment.  Je  me  rejouis 
infiniment  d'apprendre  que  vous  vous  etes  remis  avec  ardeur  a  la 
Geologic  et  que  vous  etudiez  maintenant  serieusement  les-  fossiles. 
Je  vous  remercie  infiniment  pour  ma  part  des  detailes  circonstancies 
dans  lesquels  vous  etes  entre  sur  les  oursins,  et  rien  ne  me  serait 
plus  utile  et  agreable  que  de  recevoir  vos  observations  sur  les  autres 
parties  de  mon  travail.  Soyez  persuade,  Monsieur,  que  j'apprends 
bien  davantage  des  remarques  de  ce  genre,  que  les  compliments 
d'une  banalite  affligeante,  que  les  auteurs  s'adressent  si  souvent.  Je 
ne  puis  meme  vous  prouver  l'importance  que  j1y  attache,  qu'en  re- 
pondant  a  vos  remarques. 

I  ne  chose  m'a  frappe,  e'est  que  mes  coupes  generiques  vous 
aient  satisfaits.  A  ce  sujet,  je  suis  de  la  part  des  Zoologistes  en 
bute  a  des  reproches  continuels  ;  on  me  repete  sans  cesse  que  je  les 
multiplie  a  plaisir.  Quant  a  moi  j'ai  la  conviction  que  Ton  ne  par- 
vient  bien  a  etudier  les  especes,  qu'en  les  groupant  dans  des  genres 


1841-42.]  LETTER   TO   THURMANN.  185 

aussi  restraint  que  possible;  sauf,  peut-etre  a  en  reunir  plus  tard 
plusieurs  sous  un  meme  chef,  si  Ton  decouvre  des  types  interme'- 
diaires. 

Quant  aux  especes  je  partage  pleinement  les  principes  que  vous 
enoncez,  je  les  professe  hautement ;  je  dirai  meme  que  ce  sont  ces 
principes  qui  me  dirigent  dans  mes  etudes  ;  mais  je  differe  surtout 
de  vous  dans  leur  application.  Ayant  egard  a  ce  qui  a  eu  lieu  dans 
les  autres  branches  de  la  science,  lorsqu'elles  etaient  dans  leur  en- 
fance,  je  cherche  a.  reunir  le  plus  de  materiaux  possible,  et  apres 
avoir  compare  exactement,  je  distingue  et  distingue,  faisant  valoir 
les  moindre  differences  que  j'apercois,  etablissant  des  especes 
souvent  d'aprcs  un  seul  exemplaire  imparfait,  sauf  a  reunir,  quand 
on  a  rassemble  des  materiaux  suffisants  pour  le  faire  a  bon  escient ; 
c'est  la  marche  que  la  science  a  suivie  dans  toute  son  histoire.  Ce 
travail  de  critique  a  ses  inconvenients,  je  le  sais  ;  il  oblige  de 
revenir  sur  les  memes  materiaux  a.  plusieurs  reprises  ;  mais  il  a  ses 
grands  avantages,  c'est  de  forcer  a  un  examen  scrupuleux,  tous  ceux 
qui  reunissent  des  materiaux  nombreux  sur  une  seule  espece.  11 
forcera  les  collecteurs  a  ne  pas  disseminer  a.  l'infini  leurs  exemplaires 
et  a.  collecter  des  series  et  non  pas  des  echantillons.  Vous  verrez 
que  toutes  les  fois  qual  irTa  ete  possible  d'e'tudier  des  series  d'exem- 
plaires,  j'en  ai  analyse  toutes  les  formes,  distingue  des  varietes 
d'ages,  de  station,  etc.  Vous  reconnoissez  vous-meme,  que  nos 
collections  sont  trop  pauvres  pour  nous  permettre  de  faire  cela.  pour 
un  grand  nombre  d'especes  des  a.  present.  Le  terme  desirable 
n'est  done  pas  encore  a.  notre  portee,  et  voila  pourquoi  je  procede  si 
difTeremment  de  la  plupart  de  mes  collegues  dans  ^application  des 
principes  incontestables.  Pour  les  memes  raisons  j'ai  fiequemment 
etabli  des  genres  dont  je  n'ai  longtemps  connu  quune  seule  espece. 

Maintenant  vous  possedez  des  series  d'especes  dont  je  n"ai  vu 
jusqu*ici  que  des  exemplaires  isoles ;  c'est  une  bonne  trouvaille  et 
si  vous  voulez  bien  me  les  communiquer  au  complet,  e'est-a-dire  la 
masse  des  bons  exemplaires  je  serai  le  premier  a  supprimer  eel  les 
de  mes  especes  qui  forment  double  emploi.  Mais  avouez,  <|u'il  etait 
plus  profitable  a.  la  science,  que  e'e'tait  du  moins  fixer  les  yeux  ou 
Tattention  d'une  maniere  bien  plus  pressante  sur  ces  oursins,  en 
etablissant  le  genre  Pedina  et  en  y  distinguant  plusieurs  es 


1 86  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

qu'en  les  reunissant  sous  un  seul  nom  dans  le  genre  Echinus.  Sup- 
posons  un  instant,  qu'au  lieu  de  devoir  les  reunir,  en  partie  du 
moins,  comme  cela  me  parait  probable,  d'apres  ce  que  vous  ecrivez 
a  Gressly,  les  ayant  d'abord  reunis,  quelqu'un  eut  trouve  que  Ton 
confondait  plusieurs  especes  sous  le  meme  nom.  La  vraie  difficulte 
qui  se  serait  alors  presentee  eut  ete  de  savoir  a  laquelle,  il  faut  con- 
server  le  nom  primitif ;  puis  si  cette  espece  est  etablie  depuis  long- 
temps,  s'assurer  laquelle  des  deux  est  mentionnee  dans  les  differents 
auteurs ;  puis  effacer  toutes  les  citations  de  localites  deja  mention- 
nees,  parce  qu'on  ne  sait  plus,  quelle  est  celle  qui  provient  de  l'endroit 
A.  ou  de  l'endroit  B.,  etc.  Cest-a-dire  que  c'est  a  la  crainte  d^etablir 
trop  cVesfteces,  sur  des  materiaux  incomplets,  qu'il  faut  attribuer  tout 
cet  effroyable  dedale  de  la  synonymie,  et  des  fausses  citations  de 
gisements,  qu'on  ne  peut  eviter  qu'en  s'abstenant  completement,  ce 
qui  ne  fait  faire  aucun  progres,  ou  en  distinguant  et  distinguant 
toujours  jusqu'a  ce  qu'on  puisse  reunir  a.  coup  sur. 

N'en  n'a  t'il  pas  ete  ainsi  de  tous  nos  oiseaux  aquatiques,  dont 
les  jeunes  et  les  vieux  ont  passes  pour  des  especes  distinctes,  meme 
aux  yeux  de  Linnee?  C'est  cette  maniere  d'agir  qui  m'a  conduit  a 
etablir  bien  des  especes,  qu'il  faudra  peut-etre  supprimer  un  jour. 
J'ajouterai  encore  que  c'est  faute  de  posseder  moi-meme  une  grande 
partie  des  objets  que  je  decris,  que  je  suis  force  de  faire  faire  les 
planches,  pendant  que  ces  objets  sont  a  ma  disposition  et  souvent 
de  les  numeroter  d'A.  B.  C.  et  de  faire  pire  encore.  Aussi  si  nous 
nous  voyons  plus  souvent,  m'entendriez  vous  souvent  repeter  qu'il 
ne  faudrait  jamais  publier  que  la  seconde  edition  de  ses  oeuvres  et 
toujours  canceller  la  premiere  apres  en  avoir  fait  part  a.  ses  amis 
seulement.  Nous  ne  marcherons  avec  une  entiere  assurance  en 
paleontologie,  que  quand  on  possedera  autant  d'editions  d'un  genre 
complet  du  Regne  Animal,  qu'il  y  a  d'editions  de  "  Cornelius 
Nepos  "  ou  de  la  grammaire  latine  de  Broder,  ou  de  tel  dictionnaire 
de  poche. 

Gressly,  Desor  et  moi  nous  travaillons  aussi  assiduement  que 
possible  a  la  paleontologie  ;  ces  Messieurs  vous  ecrivent  chacun  de 
leur  cote  ;  j'ai  voulu  aussi  vous  donner  un  signe  de  vie,  et  j'espere 
que  nous  n'en  resterons  pas  la.  Jent  [l'editeur  d'Agassiz  a  Soleure] 
ne  peut  pas  vous  avoir  adresse  les  planches  de  Myes,  puisqu'il  ne 


1841-42.]  JAMES  D.  FORBES.  1S7 

les  a  pas  encore.     Ce  sera  Gressly  011  moi  qui  vous  les  auront  fait 

parvenir,  afin  cTapprendre  de  vous,  si  vous  aviez  quelque  chose 
neuf  dans  ces  genres.     Vous  m'obligerez  infiniment  en  en  faisant 
une  petite  caisse  et   en   me   Padressant   avec  vos    oursins.     Nous 
determinerons  cela  en  commun,  et  Gressly  ou  Desor  vous  renverra 
prochainement  le  tout. 

Agreez,  Monsieur,  mes  salutations  tres  empressees. 

Ls.  Agassiz. 

Seldom  has  Agassiz  written  such  an  important  scien- 
tific letter,  showing  as  it  does  his  method  of  determining 
species  and  establishing  new  genera.  In  it  he  anticipates 
the  criticism  which  has  been  made  since,  that  he  created 
too  many  species ;  for  instance,  of  fossil  fishes  from  the 
JlyscJi1  of  Glaris,  some  of  which  were  distorted  by  strong 
lateral  pressure.  A  larger  number  of  specimens  than 
were  then  at  his  disposal  have  since  proved  his  mistake. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  at  Glasgow 
during  September,  1840,  James  D.  Forbes,  professor  of 
natural  philosophy  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  took 
such  an  interest  in  all  the  communications  made  by 
Agassiz  on  the  glacial  question  and  the  glaciers,  that 
Agassiz  very  politely  tendered  him  an  invitation  to  visit 
him  the  next  summer  at  his  "  Hotel  des  Neuchatelois." 

On  the  8th  of  August,  1841,  Agassiz,  with  his  assist- 
ants, again  occupied  their  old  and  rather  rough  quarters 
on  the  Aar  glacier;  and  there  Forbes,  accompanied  by 
a  Scotch  friend,  Mr.  Heath,  was  received  as  a  welcome 
guest.  Agassiz  was  delighted  to  have  a  physician  so 
celebrated  as  Forbes  to  examine  his  observations.  He 
showed  him  everything  —  all  the  experiments  they  were 

1  A  lithologic  term  used  in  German  Switzerland  to  designate  a  series  of 
strata  belonging  to  the  Tertiary  Eocene. 


1 88  LOUTS  AGASSTZ.  [chap.  viii. 

making  in  regard  to  temperature,  progress  of  the  mo- 
raine, etc.,  often  asking  his  opinion  and  advice.  But 
Forbes  was  as  silent  as  a  sphinx ;  it  was  impossible 
to  draw  from  him  a  single  remark  or  hint.  This 
impenetrability  in  a  savant  was  new  to  Agassiz,  who, 
until  then,  had  more  or  less  easily  charmed  every  scien- 
tific man  with  whom  he  had  come  in  contact.  But 
this  time  he  had  found  one  who  would  not  yield  to 
his  ingenuousness.  During  the  three  weeks  spent  by 
Forbes  at  the  "  Hotel  des  Neuchatelois,"  he  observed 
everything  around  him,  but  said  absolutely  nothing, 
even  as  regards  his  impressions.  Agassiz's  desire  to 
study  the  structure  of  glaciers  led  him  to  bore  in  the 
glacier  a  hole  140  feet  deep  ;  and  he  was  also  lowered, 
supported  simply  by  a  rope,  to  a  depth  of  120  feet, 
into  an  old  "moulin"  or  well,  to  see  how  far  through 
the  glaciers  the  laminated  structure  extended.  This 
veined  structure  was  the  only  point  referred  to  by 
Forbes  during  his  stay  at  the  "  Hotel  des  Neuchate- 
lois." It  had  been  observed  previously  by  David 
Brewster,  Hugi,  Bishop  Rendu,  Guyot,  and  Agassiz ; 
but  Forbes  afterward  claimed  that  it  was  he  who  first 
called  Agassiz's  "  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  ice  of 
glaciers  is  composed  of  vertical  laminae,  constituting  a 
true  ribboned  structure,"  *  and  raised  a  controversy,  of 
which  we  shall  speak  farther  on. 

Several  peaks  were  ascended  by  Agassiz  during 
Forbes's  stay,  among  them  the  summit  of  the  Ewig- 
schneehorn  ;  with  a  visit  to  the  Gauli  glacier,  a  walk 
over  the   "  mer  de  glace   de  Viesch,"  and,  finally,   an 

1  "Edinburgh  Philosophical  Journal,"  January,  1842. 


1841-42.]  ASCENT  OF   THE  JUNGFRAU.  189 

ascent  of  the  Jungfrau.  Until  then  no  tourist  had  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  top  of  the  Jungfrau.  During 
the  last  two  years  Agassiz  had  often  discussed  with  his 
favourite  guide,  Jacob  Leuthold,  the  means  of  reaching 
that  virgin  peak,  the  great  landmark  of  the  Bernese 
Oberland.1  On  the  27th  of  August,  Agassiz  with 
Forbes,  Heath,  Desor,  and  two  others,  and  six  guides, 
left  the  Grimsel  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  arriving 
at  six  o'clock  p.m.  at  the  Meril  Chalets,  near  the  lake, 
where  they  were  well  received  by  the  herders,  who  were 
rather  astonished  at  the  arrival  of  such  a  large  party. 

Next  morning,  at  five  o'clock,  they  left  Meril,  aiming 
for  the  Aletsch  glacier ;  after  a  fatiguing  walk  on  rather 
slippery  ground,  among  "  crevasses "  and  over  snow 
fields,  the  party  reached  the  base  of  the  last  slope  at 
three  o'clock  p.m.  Four  of  the  party  had  been  forced 
by  fatigue  or  giddiness  to  remain  behind ;  but  the  other 
eight  —  one  after  another  in  turn  —  gained  the  summit, 
which  is  only  two  feet  long  by  a  foot  and  a  half  broad. 
Agassiz  was  the  first,  then  Desor,  Forbes  behind,  and  a 
French  tourist,  M.  Duchatelier  of  Nantes,  fourth.  At 
four  o'clock  the  descent  began  ;  and  they  arrived  all  safe 
at  half-past  eleven  p.m.  at  the  Meril  Chalets.  Three 
days  later  Agassiz  was  again  at  the  "  Hotel  des  Neucha- 
telois,"  where  he  found  his  artist-friend,  Burkhardt, 
and  his  assistant,  Charles  Girard,  anxiously  awaiting  his 
return. 

1  The  two  brothers,  Rudolph  and  Jerome  Meyer  of  Aarau,  in   l8ll  and 
181 2,  made  two  ascents  of  the  Jungfrau  with  success,  although  the  fact  is 
contested  by  the  mountaineers  of  the  country.     At  all  events,  a  part 
guides,  with  J.  Baumann  as  chief,  succeeded  in  reaching  the  summit  on  the 

8th  of  September,  1828. 


190  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

During  the  five  weeks'  sojourn  of  Agassiz  and  his 
friends  on  the  glacier  of  the  Aar,  from  the  8th  of 
August  to  the  ioth  of  September,  1841,  many  visitors 
were  received  besides  Forbes.  The  title  of  "  Hotel  des 
Neuchatelois"  deceived  several  tourists,  who,  hearing 
of  it  at  the  Grimsel  Hospice,  came  up  expecting  to  find 
some  establishment  like  the  "  Culm  Hotel '  on  the 
Rigi.  Even  a  Scotch  lady,  Mrs.  Covan  of  Edinburgh, 
in  returning  from  an  ascent  of  the  Finsteraarhorn, 
stopped  and  was  entertained  as  well  as  it  was  possible 
by  Agassiz.  Most  of  these  visitors  were  obliged  to 
return  to  the  Grimsel  to  find  lodging,  or  to  be  contented 
with  a  corner  in  the  guide's  cabin.  The  hospitality  of 
the  "  Hotel  des  Neuchatelois"  was  reserved  for  savants 
or  personal  friends,  such  as  General  de  Pfuel,  the  Prus- 
sian governor  of  Neuchatel,  Lord  Enniskillen  of  Ireland, 
the  two  de  Rougemont  of  Neuchatel,  the  geologists, 
Studer  and  Escher  von  der  Linth,  the  meteorologist  and 
botanist,  Charles  Martins,  Bravais,  Guyot,  etc.  However, 
the  solidity  of  the  block  forming  the  roof  was  begin- 
ning to  awaken  suspicion ;  cracks  had  become  alarm- 
ingly numerous,  and  when  it  rained,  the  interior  of  the 
hotel  was  almost  a  pond,  with  water  running  in  every 
direction.  It  was  only  a  question  of  time  when  the 
enormous  block  would  break  in  pieces,  and  it  was  also 
feared  that  a  sudden  move  of  the  glaciers  might  hasten 
the  catastrophe.  So  every  evening  before  retiring  one 
of  the  party  used  to  make  the  round  of  the  cabin  to 
see  that  all  was  right.  Although  not  in  immediate 
danger,  it  was  resolved  to  abandon  the  "  Hotel  des 
Xeuchatelois  "  and  to  erect  next  year  a  new  cabin  ;  not, 


1841-42.]  NEUCHATEL  ACADEMY.  191 

as  formerly,  on  the   glacier,  but  on  firm    ground,  and 
hence  less  exposed  to  dangerous  accidents. 

Forbes,  after  his  return  from  the  ascent  of  the  Jung- 
frau,  visited  parts  of  the  Valai's  and  Chamounix,  and  by 
the  middle  of  September  arrived  at  Neuchatel.  His 
reception  by  Agassiz  was  most  cordial ;  and  Agassiz's 
letter  introducing  Forbes  to  his  good  friend,  Celestin 
Nicolet,  may  be  quoted  as  an  evidence  of  his  solicitude 
to  help  him  in  every  way. 

Neuchatel,  le  20  septembre,  1841. 

Mon  cher  ami  Nicolet.  —  Cest  M.  le  Professeur  Forbes  qui  vous 
remettra  ces  lignes  et  que  je  vous  recommande  tout  particulierement 
en  vous  priant  de  lui  faire  voir  ce  que  vous  avez  d'interessant  a  la 
Chaux-de-Fonds.  en  fait  de  Sciences  et  d'Industrie.  Je  suis  sure  que 
vous  aurez  beaucoup  de  plaisir  a  faire  la  connoissance  d\m  homme 
aussi  haut  place  dans  le  monde  savant  que  M.  Forbes. 

Venez  bientot  causer  un  pen  plus  intimement  avec  nous  de  tout 
ce  que  nous  avons  vu  dans  les  Alpes ;  plus  vite  et  mieux. 

Tout  a  vous 

Ls.  Agassiz. 

Although  the  Neuchatel  Academy  was  founded  in 
1838,  the  public  inauguration  of  the  new  institution  was 
delayed  until  the  18th  of  November,  1841.  Agassiz  on 
that  occasion,  wearing  the  cross  of  the  Red  Eagle  of 
Prussia,  delivered  an  address,  "  De  la  Succession  et  du 
developpement  des  etres  organises  a  la  surface  du  globe 
terrestre  dans  les  differents  ages  de  la  nature,"  in 
which  he  says,  "  Si  le  cours  des  astres  ne  nous  pr^sente 
aucune  variation,  si  l'ordre  des  saisons  est  immuable,  si 
la  reproduction  des  especes  s'opere  toujours  de  la  m^me 
maniere,  il  est  evident  que  le  cours  de  ces  phenomenes 


192  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

est  invariablement  regie  et  suit  des  lois  naturelles,  inde- 
pendantes  de  l'influence  creatrice  qui  les  a  etablies." 

Objections  were  raised  by  the  rector  of  the  academy 
and  some  of  the  professors ;  and  after  discussion,  it  was 
resolved  that  two  hundred  separate  copies  of  Agassiz's 
address  should  be  printed  for  his  own  use,  and  four 
hundred  copies  of  the  three  speeches  delivered  at  the 
inauguration,  as  part  of  the  programme  and  annual 
report  of  the  academy.  The  pietist  party  was  very 
strong  then  in  Neuchatel,  and  several  sentences  in 
Agassiz's  address  were  considered  as  anti-orthodox  and 
antagonistic  to  the  prevailing  creed  of  the  Neuchatel 
ministers.  The  following  letter  from  Agassiz  to  the  rec- 
tor shows  the  intensity  of  the  commotion  produced :  — 

Neuchatel,  14  decembre,  1841. 

Mon  cher  collegue  [le  recteur  Petavel].  —  Considerez,  je  vous 
prie,  que  mon  discours  s'adresse  au  public  de  PAcademie  et  que  peu 
m'importe  le  jugement  de  ceux  qui  sont  incompetents  ou  incapables. 
Que  serait  notre  Academie  si  elle  devait  se  mettre  a  la  hauteur  de 
tous  ceux  qui  en  veulent  ?  Vous  auriez  pu  voir  vendredi  que  je  fais 
de  vos  reclamations  une  affaire  de  principes  et  que  je  suis  parfaite- 
ment  decide  a  ne  pas  faire  la  moindre  concession,  parce  que  j'y 
verrais  une  atteinte  fataie  a  la  liberte  d'enseignement  et  parce  que 
je  tiens  a  ce  que  notre  Academie  aie  de  la  tenue  et  qu'un  de  ses 
membres  ne  dise  pas  blanc  aujourd'hui  et  noir  demain.  Ne  con- 
fondez  pas  votre  position  avec  la  mienne ;  vous  deviez  parler  au 
nom  du  corps  academique  et  e'est  ce  qui  nous  donnait  a  tous  le 
droit  d'exiger  que  vous  parleriez  dans  tel  ou  tel  sens,  dans  celui  de 
la  majoritd,  sauf  a  vous  de  donner  votre  demission  comme  Recteur, 
s'il  ne  vous  convenait  pas  d'etre  l'organe  de  notre  pensee :  Vous  ne 
faites  pas  assez  cette  distinction.  J'ai  parle  pour  moi  et  dans 
linteret  de  notre  Academie ;  je  ne  souffrirais  pas  la  moindre  critique 
de  ce  que  j'ai  fait  et  dit ;   je  vous  le  repete  sans  la  moindre  ani- 


1841-42.]  LETTER   TO    THE  RECTOR.  193 

mosite ;  je  dirai  meme  que  je  le  fais  comme  si  j'etais  tout  a  fait 
etranger  a  la  discussion  et  uniquement  parce  que  vous  me  demandez 
comme  Recteur :  quel  bien  je  pense  que-  cela  fera  a  rAcadcmie.  et 
parce  que  me  faisant  le  defenseur  de  cette  independance  de  Tesprit, 
sans  laquelle  rien  ne  grand  ne  peut  prosperer,  je  dois  vous  rappeler 
que  le  Recteur  est  tenu  de  rester  etranger  a  tout  cela.  S"il  en  etait 
autrement,  ce  seraient  des  antecddents  qui  donneraient  acces  au 
coeur  meme  de  TAcademie  a  des  influences  etrangeres,  que  je  ferai 
toujours  tous  mes  efforts  d'en  bannir  et  auxquelles  il  faut  fermer  la 
bouche  des  le  commencement  pour  qu'elles  ne  rciterent  pas  Ieurs 
tentatives.  Je  vous  Pai  dit  dans  mon  discours  et  je  vous  le  re  pete 
ici :  il  est  peu  de  grandes  verites  qui  n'aient  ete  traitees  de  chimeres 
et  de  blasphemes,  avant  qu'elles  fussent  demontrees.  Heureuse- 
ment  que  les  temps  de  Galilee  n'existent  plus ;  mais  aussi  y  a-t-il 
bien  moins  de  merite  qu'alors  a  ne  pas  composer  avec  les  preten- 
tions  des  Ministres  de  TEglise,  et  ce  n'est  certes  pas  une  couronne 
de  martyr  que  j'espere  conquerir.  Je  dis  <*de  TEglise,"  et  par  la 
j'entends  les  ministres  de  tons  les  cultes,  qu'ils  soient  protestants, 
catholiques,  juifs  ou  mahometans,  qui  ne  venlent  faire  de  firogrbs  en 
rien.  Notez  bien  que  je  ne  vous  dis  pas  "  de  la  Religion."  N^ubliez 
pas  que  mes  doctrines  ne  peuvent  porter  d'atteinte  qu'a.  Tenseigne- 
ment  des  docteurs  de  PEglise  et  nullement  aux  verites  de  la  Religion. 

J'en  reviens  a  mon  discours.  Ennuye  de  toutes  ces  discussions, 
je  le  livrerai  aujourd"hui  a.  Wolfrath  (rimprimeur)  sans  notes,  tel 
que  je  l'ai  lu,  sans  y  changer  quoique  ce  soit.  Si  on  ne  me  laisse  pas 
tranquille  a  ce  sujet,  ce  sera  ma  meilleur  defense. 

Agreez,  mon  cher  collegue,  mes  salutations   bien  empresse'es  ; 

croyez  que  j'estime  votre  zele  pour  les  convictions  que  vous  pro- 

fessez  maintenant.     Soyez  persuade  que  jamais  je  ne  chercherai  de 

discuter  sur  ces  matieres,  que  je  desire  avant  tout  vivre  en  paix  avec 

mes  convictions  et  pouvoir  poursuivre  sans  relache  mes  recherch 

ne  reclamant  en  leur  faveur  que  la  meme  tolerance  que  jc  concede 

a  tout  le  monde. 

Ls.  Agassiz. 

This  is  the  most  decisive  letter  ever  written  by 
Agassiz.     At  that  time   Neuchatel   was  entirely  in  the 

o 


i94  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

hands  of  the  "  Ministres  de  l'Eglise";  and  the  Pietists 
and  even  the  "  Momiers  "  largely  controlled  Neuchatel 
society.  Some  of  Agassiz's  most  intimate  friends,  like 
Arnold  Guyot,  were  among  the  leaders  of  the  Pietists, 
and  it  required  considerable  moral  courage  to  resist  the 
anti-liberal  pressure  exerted  by  the  sect  against  all  lib- 
eral, even  scientific  ideas.  This  controversy  is  the  best 
answer  to  the  attacks  of  those  who  have  pretended  that 
Agassiz  came  under  the  influence  of  the  Methodists  in 
America.  Agassiz,  on  the  contrary,  was  most  liberal 
in  religion,  and  always  took  care  never  to  confuse 
science  with  religion.  All  his  life  he  kept  free  of  the 
"  Ministres  de  l'Eglise,"  both  in  Europe  and  in  Amer- 
ica. To  tell  the  truth,  he  never  liked  "  ministers,"  to 
whatever  sect  they  might  belong.  To  finish  this  inci- 
dent, Agassiz  was  appointed  rector  of  the  Neuchatel 
Academy  for  the  year  1 842-1 843  ;  and  in  his  "  Discours 
du  Nouvel-An,"  the  1st  of  January,  1843,  he  said  :  — 

Une  institution  aussi  jeune  que  notre  Academie  a  surtout  besoin 
de  Tappui  d'un  monarque  qui  veille  avec  une  si  constante  sollicitude 
aux  inte'rets  de  la  science.  Deja  avant  son  avenement  au  trone 
Frederic-Guillaume  IV  etait  le  protecteur  le  plus  zele  des  sciences 
en  Prusse,  et  sous  son  regne  les  institutions  scientifiques  du  royaume 
brillent  dim  nouvel  eclat,  du  surtout  a.  l'empressement  avec  lequel 
le  roi  a  appele  dans  ses  Etats  les  hommes  les  plus  eminents  de  TAlle- 
magne  dans  le  domaine  de  la  philosophic,  des  sciences,  du  droit 
et  des  lettres.  Tout  recemment  encore,  il  a  inaugure  Toeuvre  d'une 
grande  reconciliation  religieuse.  Cest  lui  qui  a  brise  de  vielles 
entraves  qui  pourraient  gener  un  nouvel  elan  de  Tintelligence  pour 
agrandir  les  limites  d'une  libre  expression  de  la  pensee,  tout  en  la 
contenant  dans  de  sages  bornes.1 

1  "  La  premiere    Academie  de  Neuchatel,"  par  Alphonse    Petitpierre, 
pp.  128-129,  Neuchatel,  1889. 


1841-42.]       CONTROVERSY  WITH  J.  D.  FORRES.         195 

In  his  agenda,  Agassiz  wrote  the  same  day :  "  Pre- 
sents comme  Recteur  les  hommages  du  corps  acadc- 
mique  au  Roi.  La  reponse  du  President  du  Conseil 
d'Etat  me  fait  supposer  que  les  paroles  moderees  que 
j'ai  prononcees  ont  deplu."  After  a  second  thought,  and 
on  the  advice  of  the  governor,  General  de  Pfuel,  repre- 
senting the  king  of  Prussia,  the  matter  was  dropped. 

The  year  1842  began  with  a  difficulty  with  James 
Forbes,  ended  with  one  with  Karl  Schimper,  with  the 
erection  of  a  new  and  rather  too  costly  establishment 
at  the  glacier  of  the  Aar  as  an  interlude,  — three  things 
which  might  have  been  avoided  to  the  advantage  of 
Agassiz.  On  the  26th  of  February  his  secretary,  who 
by  this  time  had  become  hardly  inferior  to  Agassiz, 
wrote  a  rather  sharp  and  irritating  letter  to  Forbes, 
relating  to  the  question  of  priority  in  the  discovery  of 
the  laminated  structure  of  the  glacier.  Desor,  by  incli- 
nation and  education,  was  always  ready  for  a  controversy 
or  a  discussion  on  any  point  scientific,  political,  or  relig- 
ious. He  had  learned  enough  of  law,  when  a  student,  to 
assimilate  the  spirit  of  the  advocate.  He  became  a 
naturalist  by  accident,  and  as  a  means  of  supporting 
himself.  But  his  proper  sphere  was  politics;  and  as 
soon  as  he  became  unexpectedly  rich,  he  devoted  almi 
all  his  time  to  politics;  as  his  biographer  says:  "lie  was 
persuaded,  at  the  end  of  his  life,  that  on  his  shoulders 
rested  the  welfare  of  the  Swiss  Confederacy,  of  the 
Neuchatel  Canton,  and  of  the  federal  Polytechnicum. 
He  passed  all  his  time  in  writing  polemic  articles  in 
newspapers,  compromised  himself  in  petty  personal  dis- 
cussions,  and   founded   a   newspaper    to   advocate    and 


1 96  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

maintain  his  ideas  and  regain  his  political  position, 
promptly  lost  by  his  own  fault.  In  the  end,  his  news- 
paper was  reduced  to  only  one  hundred  subscribers;  and 
the  fatigues  he  incurred  to  maintain  his  political  views 
in  a  great  measure  brought  on  the  fatal  illness  which 
carried  him  off  at  Nice,  the  23d  of  February,  1882." 

The  beginning  of  the  controversy  with  Forbes  is 
recorded  in  the  following  letter  from  Agassiz,  addressed 
to  Mr.  Murray's  son  in  London,  who  was  the  editor  of 
the  "Annals  and  Magazine  of  Natural  History." 

Neuchatel,  13  fevrier,  1842. 

D'apres  votre  lettre  je  presume  que  c'est  Forbes  qui  vous  a  offert 
un  article  sur  les  glaciers  ;  si  cest  lui  ce  serait  une  raison  de  plus  pour 
moi  de  vous  prier  d'attendre  mes  notes,  car  je  viens  de  recevoir  une 
notice  de  lui  inseree  dans  le  Journal  de  Jameson(Ediuourg/i  New 
Philosopliical  Journal)  qui  me  parait  la  plus  complete  indiscretion 
dont  on  puisse  se  rendre  coupable  envers  un  ami.  Mr.  Forbes  a 
mon  invitation  est  venu  passer  trois  semaines  dans  la  cabane  que 
j'avais  fait  etablir  sur  le  glacier  de  TAar,  je  lui  ai  fait  voir  tout  ce 
que  la  glacier  offre  d'interessant,  toutes  les  recherches  ont  ete  sui- 
vies  sous  ses  yeux.  Des  le  premier  jour  je  lui  ai  meme  annonce 
que  Tun  des  points  que  je  me  proposais  specialement  d'etudier  etait 
la  structure  intime  du  glacier  et  particulierement  les  apparences 
rubannees  du  glacier  que  j'avais  a.  peine  mentionnees  dans  mon 
ouvrage  ("Etudes  sur  les  Glaciers"),  p.  121,  en  en  decrivant 
l'aspect  exterieur,  parce  que  depuis  1838  ou  je  les  avais  pour  la 
premiere  fois  remarquees  sur  la  mer  de  glace  de  Chamounix  je 
n'etais  point  encore  parvenu  a  en  suivre  tous  les  details,  ce  phe- 
nomene  n^tant  pas  toujours  egalement  distinct.  Comme  cette 
annee  il  a  ete  facile  de  Tobserver,  nous  en  avons  fait  une  etude 
detaillee  et  des  les  3  octobre,  1841,  j'en  donnai  la  description  a 
M.  de  Humboldt,  alors  a  Paris,  qui  en  fit  part  a  PAcademie  (des 
Sciences  de  Tlnstitut  de  France),  et  voila  qu'en  decembre  {Edin- 
burgh New  PJiilosophical  Journal,  January,  1842),  Mr.  Forbes  en 


1841-42.]      LETTER    TO  MR.  MURRAY'S  SON.  197 

fait  part  a  1' Academic  d'Edinburgh  en  s'cn  appropriant  la  decou- 
verte  et  en  poussant  I'impudence  jusqu'a  dire  qu'il  fut  surpris  en 
visitant  le  glacier  de  PAar  de  voir  en  me  parlant  de  ce  phenomene 
que  je  ne  le  connaissais  pas.  Veuillez  a  ce  sujet  comparer  la  page 
121  de  mon  livre.  II  faut  absolument  que  je  fasse  connaitre  ces 
faits  pour  ne  pas  paraitre  plus  tard  plagiaire  dans  mes  propres 
observations,  et  je  vous  prie  de  communiquer  le  contenu  de  cette 
lettre  a  tous  ceux  de  mes  amis  que  vous  connoissez  et  que  cela 
peut  interesser.  Ceci  est  une  raison  de  plus  pour  activer  la  redaction 
de  mes  observations  sur  les  glaciers,  et  je  compte  que  votre  sentiment 
de  justice  vous  engagera  a  les  attendre  plutot  que  d'accepter  quel  que 
fausse  monnaie.  Je  vous  prie  cependant  de  ne  pas  faire  imprimer 
ceci  parce  que  je  compte  faire  moi-meme  la  lecon  a  Mr.  Forbes. 

Je  serais  moins  surpris  de  ce  que  vient  de  faire  Forbes,  si  lorsque 
nous  etions  ensemble  et  que  je  le  priais  de  contribuer  a  faire  con- 
naitre avec  moi  les  glaciers  en  pretant  a.  cette  question  1'appui  du 
nom  d'un  physicien  justement  estime  dans  le  monde  savant,  il  s'y 
etait  continuellement  refuse,  en  repetant  qu'il  n'avait  aucune  opinion 
sur  ce  sujet,  qu'il  avait  voulu  seulement  apprendre  a  les  connaitre 
en  venant  les  etudier  avec  moi  et  qu'il  se  garderait  bien  de  rien 
publier  sur  une  matiere  dans  laquelle  il  lui  restait  plus  que  des 
doutes  J'etais  bien  loin  de  presumer  que  sous  cette  reserve  se 
cachait  Tintention  de  s'approprier  les  observations  les  plus  pre- 
cieuses  de  cette  campagne. 

Mr.  Forbes  a  soin  de  dire  que  c'est  dans  ma  societe  et  celle  de 
Mr.  Heath  de  Cambridge  quHl  a  sejourne  trois  semaines  sur  le 
glacier.  Pour  etre  vrai  il  aurait  du  dire  que  j'avais  fait  etablir  la 
haut  un  appareil  de  forage  desservi  par  cinq  ou  six  horn  mes  y  com- 
pris  un  maitre  foreur,  que  je  mMtais  fait  accompagner  d'un  peintre 
qui  a  dessine  pour  moi  tous  les  accidents  du  glacier  dont  quelqi 
uns  ont  etc  copies  par  Mr.  Forbes;  que  deux  de  mes  amis.  M.  le 
Docteur  Vogt  m'aidait  dans  les  recherches  microscopiques  et  M. 
Desor  dans  celles  concernant  la  geologie  ;  e'etait  tout  un  e*tablisse- 
ment  que  Mr.  Forbes  s'appropie  gratuitement  par  un  prdtentieux 
our.  Qu'en  serait-il  si  de  leur  cote  les  autres  savants  MM.  Studer, 
Escher,  Martins,  etc.,  qui  sont  venus  nous  visiter  et  passer  quelqi 
jours  avec  nous,  en  faisaient  autant? 


i9S  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

Agassiz  took  the  side  of  his  secretary,  and  published, 
on  the  2 1  st  of  April,  1842,  a  pamphlet  of  ten  octavo 
pages,  without  title,  but  which  may  be  called,  "  A  reply 
to  Mr.  James  D.  Forbes  on  the  laminated  structure  of 
glaciers."  The  paper,  although  "privately  distrib- 
uted," was  circulated  largely  among  Agassiz's  friends 
to  the  number  of  five  hundred  copies.  It  began  with 
a  reprint  of  a  letter  to  M.  Desor,  under  the  date  of 
nth  March,  1842,  published  by  Forbes,  with  the 
remark :  "  The  following  letter  from  Professor  Forbes 
to  M.  Desor  of  Neuchatel  was  written  in  answer  to  one 
from  the  latter  to  the  former,  in  which  Professor  Forbes 
is  charged  with  having,  in  a  paper  on  the  structure  of 
the  ice  of  glaciers  .  .  .  assumed  as  his  own  a  discovery 
previously  well  known  to  M.  Agassiz  and  his  friends. 
It  appears  that  this  injurious  assertion  has  been  pretty 
extensively  circulated  through  private  channels,  and;  in 
consequence,  Professor  Forbes  has  been  advised  by  his 
friends  to  make  his  denial  equally  known."  The  asser- 
tion that  Desor's  written  letter  "  has  been  pretty  exten- 
sively circulated  through  private  channels "  involved 
a  gratuitous  supposition  without  foundation;  the  letter 
was  not  printed,  and  neither  Agassiz  nor  Desor  had 
even  kept  a  copy  of  it.  Forbes's  printed  letter,  on 
the  contrary,  was  largely  circulated,  although  no  copy 
was  addressed  to  Agassiz ;  and  Agassiz  was  obliged  to 
make  use  of  the  "Private  copy  for  Mr.  Guyot"  in 
order  to  have  it  reprinted  in  his  pamphlet.  If  the 
"  confidential  adviser '  of  Agassiz,  as  Forbes  calls 
Desor,  erred  in  writing  to  Forbes  in  a  rather  surly 
tone,  Forbes's  letter  is  much  more  objectionable.     In  it 


1841-42.]      CONTROVERSY  WITH  7.   D.  FORBES.         199 

he  calls  to  his  help  Studer,  who  was  always  only  too 
ready  to  join  in  a  crusade  against  intruders  on  his 
geological  preserve  of  the  Bernese  Oberland.  Forbes 
seems  rather  anxious  not  to  appear  to  have  studied  "  in 
the  school  of  Agassiz  "  ;  but  to  show  that  the  fact  of 
the  structure  of  the  ice  described  in  his  notice  was 
unknown  to  Agassiz,  de  Charpentier,  and  other  writers. 
His  remarks  about  "  studying  in  a  school '  are  childish 
in  the  extreme,  and  his  knowledge  of  other  works  on 
the  structure  of  the  ice  was  certainly  limited  ;  for  Hugi, 
Rendu,  and  before  them  David  Brewster  of  Edinburgh, 
had  observed  the  veined  structure. 

Agassiz's  answer,  dated  the  29th  of  March,  1842, 
gives  the  whole  story  of  the  relations  between  him  and 
Forbes.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Agassiz  and  every  one 
who  met  Forbes  under  the  auspices  of  Agassiz,  both 
at  the  "  Hotel  des  Neuchatelois '  and  at  Neuchatel, 
did  everything  possible  to  help  Forbes,  and  were  ex- 
tremely kind  and  courteous  to  him ;  while,  on  his  part, 
Forbes  was  austere  to  an  extent  seldom  seen,  even 
among  Englishmen.  The  impression  he  made  when  in 
Switzerland  was  decidedly  unfavourable,  except  in  the 
case  of  a  single  person,  Professor  Bernard  Studer,  to 
whom  he  afterward  dedicated  his  book,  ''Travels  through 
the  Alps  of  Savoy,"  etc.,  1843.  It  was  wrong  on  his 
part  to  accept  the  hospitality  of  Agassiz,  and  then  to 
act  as  if  he  had  met  him  in  a  hotel.  He  was  con- 
stantly on  his  guard  not  to  show  any  mark  of  assent,  or 
to  say  anything  which  might  be  useful  for  future  obsen 
tions.  His  great  reserve  puzzled  everybody  ;  and  when 
he  left,  there  was  a  general  feeling  of  relief.     Through- 


200  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

out  his  stay  the  relations  were  never  cordial.  He 
personified  the  celebrated  type  of  Englishmen  so  well 
described  and  caricatured  by  Topffer,  in  his  "Nouvelles 
Genevoises,"  "  Les  deux-Scheidegg  "  :  "Je  defende  vos 
de  paaler  a  moa,  quand  je  dise  rien  a  vos."  A  true  no! 
no ! :  tall,  thin,  dry,  haughty,  and  extremely  egotistical. 

Agassiz  put  forward  the  doubtful  claim  of  Arnold 
Guyot  to  priority  in  the  discovery  of  ribboned  structure, 
noted  by  Hugi  as  far  back  as  1830.  It  would  have 
been  better  had  no  attention  been  paid  to  Forbes's 
paper,  which  was  written  in  bad  taste  and  against  all 
the  rules  of  courtesy  between  savants. 

The  only  person  who  obtained  any  benefit  from  this 
uncalled-for  dispute  was  Desor,  whose  name,  until  then 
entirely  unknown  in  England  and  on  the  continent, 
except  in  Switzerland,  became  conspicuous  as  the  "  con- 
fidential adviser"  of  Agassiz. 

All  friendly  relations  between  Agassiz  and  Forbes 
ended  with  the  following  letter  addressed  by  Agassiz 
to  Forbes,  then  in  a  hotel  at  Neuchatel :  — 

Le  12  Juin,  1842. 

Monsieur, — Je  viens  de  recevoir  la  brochure  que  vous  m'avez 
fait  l'honneur  de  nvadresser  et  pour  laquelle  je  vous  prie  d'agreer 
mes  remerciements.  Je  regrette  que  vous  rfayez  pas  encore  recu 
le  rccit  de  notre  course  a  la  Jungfrau  que  M.  Desor  vous  a  adresse 
il  y  a  plusieurs  mois,  si  j'en  avais  encore  un  exemplaire  a  ma  dis- 
position je  vous  l'adresserais,  afin  que  vous  puissiez  en  prendre 
connoissance. 

1  Rudolph  Topffer  in  his  novel  "  Le  Col  d'Anterne  "  gives,  as  a  type  of 
a  well-bred  Englishman,  a  tourist  set  in  front  of  the  Mont-Blanc,  who 
disclaimed  to  answer  any  of  the  numerous  and  polite  questions  asked  by 
Topffer,  except  by  the  two  words,  No  !  no  !  and  Ui !  ui ! 


1841-42-]  LETTER    TO   J.  D.  FORBES. 

N'ayant  recu  aucune  response  aux  deux  dernieres  Lettres  que  j'ai 
eu  Thonneur  de  vous  adresser  et  apres  la  rdponse  que  vous  avez  faite 
a  ma  precedente,  en  livrant  au  public  des  remarques  qui  n'allaient 
qu'a  votre  adresse,  je  ne  concois  pas  quelle  espece  de  relations  per- 
sonnelles  vous  pouvez  rechercher  avec  moi.  Celles  que  j'aurais  pu 
desirer,  vous  les  avez  rendues  impossibles  ;  et  je  ne  saurais  accepter 
les  froides  civilites  d'une  personne  en  qui  j'avais  vu  un  ami.  Cela 
ne  m'empechera  pas  de  rendre  pleine  et  entiere  justice  a  celles  de 
vos  publications  qui  tiennent  de  loin  ou  de  pros  aux  recherches 
scientifiques  que  je  poursuis. 

Agrc'ez,  Monsieur,  etc., 

Louis  Agassiz. 

It  would  have  been  wiser  on  the  part  of  Agassiz  and 
more  profitable  if,  after  his  ascent  of  the  Jungfrau  and 
his  two  "sejours"  at  the  "Hotel  des  Neuchatelois  "  in 
1840  and  1 84 1,  he  had  let  the  glacial  question  take  care 
of  itself.  The  impulse  he  had  given  was  quite  sufficient 
to  assure  his  reputation  as  one  of  the  first  and  most 
successful  workers ;  and  his  place,  after  Venetz  and  de 
Charpentier,  was  recognized  as  undisputed  by  all  those 
who  had  studied  glaciers  and  the  glacial  age. 

Frightened  at  the  constant  increase  of  expenses,  his 
Swiss  and  German  families  made  remonstrances,  and 
were  absolutely  opposed  to  a  new  establishment  at  the 
glacier  of  the  Aar,  to  replace  the  "  Hotel  des  Neucha- 
telois," which  had  gone  to  pieces  during  the  winter, 
according  to  a  report  just  received  from  the  Grimsel. 
Agassiz's  best  scientific  friends,  with  Humboldt  at  their 
head,  hinted  that,  after  all,  his  works  on  fishes  furnished 
his  best  claim  to  reputation  and  celebrity.  In  a  previ- 
ous letter,  dated  Berlin,  17th  of  June,  1838,  Humboldt, 
in  a  friendly  way,  had  told  him  that  he  had  never  had 


202  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

a  secretary,  or  even  a  copyist,  preferring  to  do  all  his 
writing,  and  expressing  his"  fear  when  he  learned  that 
he  had  nine  assistants  in  his  employ,  adding  humor- 
ously, "  I  am  sure  that  there  must  be  some  gold  some- 
where in  your  polished  rocks.  I  should  like  to  know 
your  secret  how  to  work  so  profitably  and  so  quickly  all 
these  mines."  Humboldt  repeated  his  friendly  advice 
during  the  summer  of  1842,  saying  plainly  that  he,  the 
man  of  the  equinoctial  region,  was  frightened  by  the 
Eiszcit  and  the  terrible  ice  cap.  But  all  this  was  in 
vain.  Agassiz  had  an  answer  for  every  objection ;  and 
all  that  even  his  alarmed  mother  could  obtain  was  a 
promise  that  he  would  not  make  any  more  ascents  of 
inaccessible  peaks,  and  be  lowered  again  into  hell,  — 
"descente  aux  enfers,"  as  his  descent  into  the  glacier 
well  was  familiarly  called. 

Arrived  at  the  Grimsel,  the  7th  of  July,  1842,  Agassiz, 
with  his  numerous  assistants,  at  once  began  observations 
and  excursions,  first  to  the  Siedelhorn,  and  after  that  to 
the  glacier  of  the  Rhone.  The  troglodytic  habitation 
under  the  immense  block,  having  become  unsafe,  it  was 
replaced  by  a  long  tent,  divided  into  three  compart- 
ments, used  as  laboratory  and  dining-room,  sleeping- 
room,  and  dormitory  for  the  workmen.  The  form  of 
the  tent  —  twenty  metres  long,  four  metres  broad,  and 
five  metres  high  —  recalled  a  Noah's  ark,  and  was 
therefore  christened  "the  Ark,"1  to  distinguish  it  from 
the  "  Hotel  des  Neuchatelois,"  which  was  now  used  as  a 
kitchen.    The  old  cabin  of  the  guides  served  as  a  stable 

1  The  old  name  of  "Hotel  des  Neuchatelois,"  however,  continued  in 
use;    ami  the  archaic  word  "Ark  "  was  dropped  before  the  summer  was  over. 


1841-42.]      STAY  AT  THE  GLACIER  OE  THE  AAR.      203 

for  ten  goats;  and  the  establishment,  as  a  whole,  was  a 
great  improvement  on  the  old  one.  Besides  being  built 
on  the  solid  ground  and  not  on  the  moving  median 
moraine,  it  afforded  a  shelter,  beneath  which  they  could 
work  whenever  the  rain  obliged  them  to  keep  in  doors. 
On  the  10th  of  July  it  was  ready  for  occupancy;  and 
the  same  night  Agassiz,  Wild,  Vogt,  Nicolet,  Desor, 
Burkhardt,  and  Girard  slept  under  the  canvas-covered 
cabin.  A  new  member  was  added  to  the  usual  staff  of 
Agassiz,  —  M.  Wild  of  Zurich,  who  had  been  engaged 
by  Agassiz  as  a  topographical  engineer,  to  survey  and 
make  a  trigonometric  plan  of  the  Aar  glacier.  To  be 
sure,  the  king  of  Prussia,  on  the  recommendation  of 
Humboldt,  had  granted  nearly  a  thousand  dollars  for 
the  continuance  of  Agassiz's  glacial  work ;  but  this 
royal  gift  was  soon  expended,  and  before  the  campaign 
of  1842  was  over,  Agassiz  was  more  deeply  in  debt 
than  ever ;  for  with  him  a  gift,  however  large  and 
important,  was  only  an  occasion  to  expend  twice  and 
three  times  more  than  he  had  received. 

The  stay  at  the  glacier  extended  from  the  beginning 
of  July  until  the  middle  of  September,  with  numerous 
excursions,  one  as  far  as  Altorf  to  attend  the  meeting 
of  the  Helvetic  Society  of  Natural  Sciences.  Escher 
de  la  Linth  and  Ferdinand  Keller  (the  same  who 
twelve  years  after  made  the  first  discovery  of  the 
lacustrine  habitation  of  prehistoric  man)  were  among 
the  guests  who  helped  to  make  observations  and  experi- 
ments on  the  glacier.  Numerous  other  guests  came, 
but  only  as  visitors  and  spectators.  Investigations  wei 
made  in  regard  to  infiltration,  lamellar  structure,  strati- 


204  LOUrS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

fication  of  the  glacier,  the  purity  and  composition  of 
the  ice,  the  "crevasses,"  the  temperature,  the  motion 
of  the  glacier,  the  ablation,  and  the  neve.  Agassiz  had 
resolved  to  embody  in  a  large  publication,  in  three 
parts,  everything  relating  to  the  glacial  system.  The 
first  part,  the  only  one  ever  published,  was  entitled 
"  Nouvelles  etudes  et  experiences  sur  les  .  glaciers 
actuels,  leur  structure,  leur  progression,  et  leur  action 
physique  sur  le  sol,"  and  was  accompanied  by  a  beau- 
tiful folio  atlas,  containing  three  maps  and  nine  plates 
(Paris,  1847).  The  second  part  was  to  be  on  the 
"  Alpine  erratics,"  by  Guyot.  It  was  never  written, 
only  a  few  general  conclusions  being  published,  without 
maps  of  any  sort.  It  is  to  be  regretted,  for  Guyot  had 
prepared  a  map  showing  the  distribution  of  the  Alpine 
boulders,  which  had  not  been  published.  However,  a 
great  part  of  it  —  more  than  two-thirds  at  least — was 
anticipated  by  the  issue,  in  1845,  at  Winterthur,  of  an 
anonymous  map  of  the  old  glaciers  of  the  Swiss  Alps, 
showing  the  extent  of  the  ancient  glaciers  of  the  Arve, 
Rhone,  Aar,  Reuss,  Linth,  and  Rhine,  with  their  lateral 
and  frontal  moraines.  This  map  is  entitled  "  Verbrei- 
tungsweise  der  Alpen-ftindlinge,"  and  its  author  is  the 
modest  and  very  able  geologist,  Arnold  Escher  von  der 
Linth.  Very  likely  the  publication  of  this  map  dis- 
couraged Guyot,  who  was  always  extremely  slow  and 
timid ;  and  he  resolved  to  publish  neither  the  volume 
advertised  nor  his  map.  As  to  the  third  and  final  part, 
by  Desor,  treating  of  erratic  phenomena  outside  of 
Switzerland,  it  remained  in  the  stage  of  contemplation, 
and  was  never  begun. 


1841-42.]  JOHN  TYNDALL.  205 

Agassiz  and  all  his  collaborators  and  friends  certainly 
worked  hard  and  with  a  determination  to  penetrate  all 
the  secrets  of  the  glaciers,  and  some  of  their  observa- 
tions and  experiments  are  excellent  and  valuable ;  but  it 
is  no  injustice  to  any  of  them  to  say  that  they  were  not 
sufficiently  equipped  and  prepared  for  the  work  they 
had  rather  rashly  undertaken.  Devotion  to  progress  of 
science  was  not  sufficient ;  something  more  was  required. 
De  Charpentier  and  Bishop  Rendu  had  already  said  all 
that  could  be  expected  from  men  not  trained  as  physi- 
cists. Agassiz  added  very  little,  if  any,  to  their  work. 
What  was  wanted  was  a  great  physicist,  to  solve  the 
problem  of  glaciers.  James  D.  Forbes  proved  unequal 
to  the  task ;  and  it  was  reserved  for  John  Tyndall,  the 
great  pupil  and  successor  of  Faraday,  as  the  discoverer 
of  "  radiant  heat,"  to  explain  fully  the  origin  of  glaciers, 
the  pressure  theory,  regelation,  crystallization  and  inter- 
nal liquefaction,  the  veined  structure ;  in  fact,  all  the 
mechanism  of  glaciers.  The  principles  set  forth  in 
Tyndall's  "The  Glaciers  of  the  Alps"  (London,  i860), 
come  next  to  the  great  discoveries  of  Venetz  and  de 
Charpentier,  and  to  Agassiz's  Ice-age.  The  four  com- 
plete the  survey  of  the  subject. 

In  November,  1842,  Agassiz,  losing  patience  with  the 
constant  attacks  in  German  newspapers  directed  against 
him  by  his  formerly  intimate  friend,  Dr.  Karl  Schimper, 
published  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Erwiederung  auf  Dr. 
Karl  Schimper's  Angriffe,"  four-page  quarto,  for  pri- 
vate circulation,  though  it  was  freely  distributed,  more 
especially  in  Germany  and  Switzerland.  It  would  have 
been   better  Agassiz    had  ignored    these    attacks ;    but 


2o6  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

urged  on,  he  says,  by  many  friends,  and  I  may  add  by 
the  one  called  by  Forbes  "  his  confidential  adviser,"  he 
wrote  his  "  Reply  to  Dr.  Karl  Schimper's  Attacks."  In 
it,  interesting  details  of  their  life  as  students,  and  of  the 
sort  of  community  existing  at  that  time  between  Alexan- 
der Braun,  the  two  Schimper  brothers,  and  Agassiz  are 
given,  and  the  kindness  and  generosity  of  Agassiz  to 
the  two  Schimpers  are  revealed;  full  justice  is  done  to 
the  brilliant  intellect  of  Karl  Schimper,  and  his  share  in 
the  diagram  entitled  "  Crust  of  the  Earth  as  related  to 
Zoology,"  constructed  by  him  with  the  help  of  notes 
furnished  by  Agassiz,  and  afterward  published  (1848), 
is  fully  acknowledged.  As  to  Agassiz's  delay  in  return- 
ing specimens  of  fishes  lent  to  him  for  his  great  work 
on  fossil  fishes,  it  was  unavoidable,  on  account  of  the 
many  specimens  to  be  taken  care  of,  and  the  delay  in 
the  publication.  As  soon  as  the  work  was  finished, 
every  specimen  was  carefully  packed  and  returned  in 
good  condition- 

Schimper's  claim  to  a  small  collection  of  minerals 
offered  to  Agassiz  at  Carlsruhe,  when  Agassiz  was  on 
the  point  of  beginning  his  lectures  as  professor  at  Neu- 
chatel,  shows  only  too  plainly  how  depressed  and  de- 
moralized Schimper  had  become  after  the  break  in  his 
relations  with  Agassiz  in  1838. 

The  only  fault,  and  it  is  a  very  trivial  one,  to  be  found 
with  Agassiz,  is  that  he  did  not  refer  to  Schimper  again 
in  his  volume  "  Etudes  sur  les  Glaciers,"  in  regard  to 
the  otherwise  erroneous  explanation  of  the  diminution 
of  the  temperature  of  the  globe  with  the  disappearance 
of  the  animals,  analogous  to  the  phenomena  accompany- 


1841-42.]  KARL  SCHIMPER.  207 

ing  the  death  of  individuals,  and  then  of  its  rising  again, 
due  to  the  arrival  of  a  new  creation  of  animals,  develop- 
ing heat  as  a  consequence.  In  his  volume  Agassiz 
reproduced  Schimper's  small  mathematical  figure,  and 
it  would  have  been  well  to  quote  Schimper  as  his 
authority.  Alexander  Braun,  when  consulted,  threw  the 
blame  on  Agassiz,  but  refused  to  take  part  in  the  dis- 
pute. In  a  letter  from  Agassiz  to  Braun,  published  in 
Braun's  Life,  by  his  daughter,  he  says  that  if  he  did  not 
quote  and  speak  of  Schimper  in  his  "  Etudes  sur  les 
Glaciers,"  it  was  in  order  to  punish  Schimper  for  his 
unjustifiable  conduct  towards  him;  a  very  lame  excuse, 
for  scientific  ideas  and  discoveries  are  sacred  property, 
which  cannot  be  cancelled  under  any  circumstances. 
If  Agassiz  had  repeated  the  sentence  in  his  Neuchatel 
Address  of  1837,  "l'explication  de  tous  ces  phenomenes 
(glaciaires)  est  le  resultat  de  la  combinaison  de  mes  idees 
et  de  celles  de  M.  Schimper,"  everything  would  have 
been  satisfactory. 

It  is  strange  that  Agassiz  did  not  abandon  the  theo- 
ries advanced  in  his  "  Discours  de  Neuchatel,"  after  its 
delivery;  for  they  met  with  not  the  smallest  acquiescence 
or  encouragement,  either  from  those  who  heard  the 
address  or  from  those  who  read  it  afterward.  De  Char- 
pentier  was  against  it,  and  Sedgwick,  the  celebrated 
geologist  of  Cambridge  (England),  expressed  in  happy 
terms  the  impression  made  on  him  by  the  reading  oi  the 
"  Etudes  sur  les  Glaciers,"  when  he  said :  "  I  have  read  his 
Ice-book.  It  is  excellent,  but  in  the  last  chapter  lie  loses 
his  balance,  and  runs  away  with  the  bit  in  his  mouth."  ] 

1  "Life  and  Letters  of  Sedgwick,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  iS,  Cambridge,  1 


2oS  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

The  immense  "  nappe  "  of  ice  covering  the  earth,  its 
breaking  by  the  upheaval  of  the  Alps,  etc.,  seem  the 
theoretical  views  of  a  dreamer,  and  are  entirely  at  vari- 
ance with  the  excellent  and  remarkable  observations  on 
the  power  of  glaciers  to  carry  boulders,  and  their  great 
extension  during  the  Quaternary  epoch.  But  it  was  a 
special  characteristic  of  Agassiz's  mind,  which  was 
intensified  by  the  teaching  of  his  great  master  Cuvier, 
seldom  to  acknowledge  an  error,  but  on  the  contrary 
to  try  by  all  means  to  maintain  his  position.  He  re- 
peatedly made  mistakes  in  dealing  with  other  savants, 
and  also  in  the  too  hasty  generalizations  which  he 
sometimes  put  forward  in  natural  history.  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  attribute  these  weak  points  in  Agassiz's 
character  to  the  influence  of  the  author  of  the  "  Ana- 
tomie  Comparee,"  an  influence  which,  if  profitable  on 
many  accounts,  was  sometimes  much  to  be  regretted. 
At  all  events,  Cuvier's  influence  was  profound,  and 
among  many  things  that  Agassiz  learned  in  his  labora- 
tory, was  one  of  his  most  pronounced  faults,  the  author- 
itative and  tyrannical  attitude  of  the  master,  unable  to 
accept  a  contradiction,  or  to  abandon  an  idea,  when 
once  promulgated   and  in  print. 

The  polemic  with  Karl  Schimper  was  unfortunate, 
because  Schimper  was  no  longer  responsible.  Like  all 
persons  suffering  from  mental  disorder,  he  thought  he 
had  discovered  all  that  he  had  heard  in  regard  to  the 
glaciers  and  the  glacial  question  during  his  long  visits 
at  Bex  and  at  Neuchatel,  and  he  treated  very  slightingly 
Venetz,  Charpentier,  and  Agassiz  ;  he  attributed  to  him- 
self the  lion's  share,  when  he  was  only  a  poetical  echo, 


1841-42.]  DANIEL  DOLLFUS-AUSSET.  209 

and  a  rather  fantastic  one  at  that,  of  what  he  had  heard 
during  his  stay  in  Switzerland.  His  half-scientific,  half- 
humorous  poem  "  Die  Eiszeit,"  printed  at  Neuchatel, 
for  friends,  the  15th  of  February,  1837,  the  birthday  of 
Galileo  Galilei,  whose  name  Schimper  had  assumed  when 
a  student,  shows  the  state  of  mind  into  which  he  had  al- 
ready sunk;  that  of  an  obscured  spirit.  Schimper,  after 
brilliant  "debuts"  in  science,  produced  nothing  but  two 
small  volumes  of  indifferent  poetry,  entitled  "  Gedichte  ' 
(Erlangen,  1840,  and  Mannheim,  1847);  ne  published 
nothing  on  the  morphology  of  plants,  although  he  is 
justly  regarded  as  one  of  its  discoverers.  Charged  by 
Prince  Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  in  1842,  to  make  a  sur- 
vey of  the  Bavarian  Alps  and  the  Palatinate,  he  made 
no  report,  and  finally  was  confined  in  an  asylum,  at 
Schwetzingen,  where  he  died  the  21st  of  December, 
1867. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Schimper  was  a  well  gifted 
man.  Without  publishing  a  word,  he  left,  as  a  botan- 
ist, a  reputation  of  a  high  order,  and  he  influenced 
both  Alexander  Braun  and  Agassiz  to  a  great  extent, 
possessing  more  imagination  and  original  ideas  than 
either  of  them.  "  II  n'a  manque  a  Schimper  que 
d'etre  sobre,"  one  of  those  who  knew  him  best  once 
said  to  me. 

Among  the  visitors  attracted  by  curiosity  t'>  the 
"Hotel  des  Neuchatelois,"  during  the  summer  <>!"  1S4  \ 
was  a  great  manufacturer  of  Mulhausen,  M.  Daniel 
Dollfus-Ausset.  Such  an  enthusiast  of  high  regions,  <»t" 
glaciers,  and  of  the  glacial  question,  has  rarely  existed. 
He  was  so  fascinated  by  all  that  he  saw  on  the  glacier 
p 


2io  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  viii. 

of  the  Aar,  that  from  that  day  he  became  not  only  an 
adept,  but  one  of  the  most  generous  patrons  of  the  work 
in  progress  on  the  Oberland  glaciers.  As  a  first  step, 
he  begged  Agassiz  to  accept  for  him,  and  as  many  of 
his  assistants  as  he  wished,  an  invitation  to  pass  the 
week  between  Christmas  and  New  Year  with  him  at  the 
Hotel  des  Trois-Rois  at  Bale,  as  a  relaxation  from  their 
hard  work,  and  to  celebrate  his  enrolment  among  the 
glacialists,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  "  Hotel  des  Neu- 
chatelois."  Agassiz,  in  company  with  Desor  and  Vogt, 
left  Neuchatel  the  24th  of  December,  1842,  and  arrived 
at  Bale  in  time  to  celebrate  "  Le  reveillon,"  or  Christmas 
Eve.  "  Papa  Dollfus,"  as  he  was  always  called  after- 
ward, received  them  most  cordially,  and  for  a  whole 
week,  with  the  exception  of  daily  morning  work  at  the 
Museum  of  Natural  History,  under  the  direction  of  the 
learned  and  very  sociable  Peter  Merian,  they  were 
treated  as  princes  of  the  sciences. 

And  thus  Agassiz  and  his  assistants  ended  the  year 
1842  at  Bale,  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  royal  hospitality. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

i 843- i 844. 

"  Recherches  sur  les  Poissons  Fossiles,"  1833-1843  —  Review  ok  it 
by  Jules  Pictet  de  la  Rive  —  Dr.  A.  Gunther's  Opinion  —  Agas- 
siz's  Errors  with  the  Eocene  Fossil  Fishes  of  Claris  (Switzer- 
land)—  The  Part  taken  by  Collaborators  in  the  "Poissons 
Fossiles" — Another  Visit  to  the  Glacier  of  the  Aar  —  The 
Meeting  of  the  Helvetic  Society  at  Lausanne,  July,  1843  — 
Agassiz's  Hospitality  at  Neuchatel — False  Position  of  his 
Secretary,  Desor,  and  his  Assistant,  Vogt  —  Scientific  Life  in 
Neuchatel — "  Monographies  des  Poissons  Fossiles  du  Vu 
Gres  Rouge,"  1844  —  The  Geologist  and  Stonecutter,  Hugh 
Miller  —  "  HistoireNaturelledes  Poissons  d'Eau douce"  —  Karl 
Vogt  leaves  Agassiz  —  Extraordinary  Session  of  the  Geological 
Society  of  France  at  Chambery  (Savoy)  — Failuke  of  Nicoi 
Lithographic  Establishment  —  Dinkel  leaves  Neuchatel  —  Ill- 
ness of  Gressly. 

The  publication  of  the  "  Recherches  sur  les  Poissons 
fossiles"  continued  through  the  ten  years  from  1833 
to  1843,  when  the  eighteenth  and  last  part  or  "livrai- 
son  "  was  issued,  with  "Additions  a  la  preface,"  dated 
Neuchatel,  May,  1843,  which  may  be  considered  as  the 
last  pages  of  that  great  work.  It  is  a  true  monument 
to  the  science  of  palaeontology,  and  to  speak  of  it  with 
authority  requires  such  special  study  of  ichthyology, 
that  the  only  way  to  give  an  idea  of  its  value  is  to  quote 
one  of  the  very  few  men  able  to  speak  of  it  with  "  con- 

211 


2i2  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ix. 

noissance  de  cause."  For  this  reason,  I  have  chosen  to 
quote  what  Jules  Pictet  de  la  Rive  says  of  it  in  his  arti- 
cle, "Agassiz"  ("Album  de  la  Suisse  Romane,"  $ihme 
vol.,  Geneva,  1847).  Pictet  had  made  a  special  study 
of  fossil  and  living  fishes,  and  his  intimacy  with  and 
admiration  for  Agassiz  never  relaxed  during  his  whole 
life.  Independent  by  character  and  possessing  a  large 
fortune,  Pictet's  opinions  are  properly  considered  just 
and  unbiassed. 

"  The  '  Recherches  sur  les  Poissons  fossiles,' '  says 
Pictet,  "  was  one  of  the  first  conceptions  of  Agassiz,  and 
form  to-day  his  most  substantial  title  to  renown.  It  is 
in  this  beautiful  work  that  the  immanent  qualities  of 
our  learned  palaeontologist  shine  more  specially  and 
that  his  rich  imagination  has  full  play,  although  always 
guided  by  a  sagacious  and  well-balanced  judgment  based 
on  conscientious  researches  and  on  a  minute  analysis 
of  even  the  smallest  parts  of  the  organism. 

"The  limits  of  this  article  do  not  allow  us  to  give 
a  complete  idea  of  the  work,  which  is  composed  of  five 
quarto  volumes  and  a  folio  atlas  of  almost  four  hundred 
plates.  We  shall  only  try  to  set  forth  the  aim,  the 
plan,  and  the  most  important  results. 

"  We  know  that  when  Cuvier  published  his  first  works 
on  the  fossils  his  principal  aim  was  to  demonstrate  that 
the  species  destroyed  by  the  revolutions  of  the  globe 
and  preserved  as  fossils  are  different  from  those  living 
now  on  our  continents  and  in  our  seas.  That  truth  has 
to-day  become  unquestionable,  and  new  discoveries  have 
shown  by  the  most  undeniable  evidence,  that  there 
have  been  in  the  history  of  the  earth  a  series  of  epochs 


1 843-44.]  PO/SSONS  FOSSILES.  213 

during  which  the  forms  of  the  oceans  and  the  conti- 
nents have  been  successively  modified,  and  each  one 
of  them  has  been  characterized  by  a  special  flora  and 
fauna ;  that  is  to  say,  by  an  ensemble  of  vegetables  and 
animals  specifically  different  from  those  coming  before 
or  after.  The  fishes  have  existed  since  the  oldest  ages 
of  the  globe,  and  their  remains  are  found  in  all  the 
successive  periods.  Their  palaeontological  history,  con- 
sequently, is  most  important,  and  furnishes  precious 
data  concerning  this  succession  of  faunas. 

"  When  Agassiz  began  his  researches  and  foresaw 
the  importance  of  the  result  that  he  might  draw  from 
them,  the  classification  of  fishes  was  not  advanced 
enough  to  allow  sufficient  comparisons.  Some  dissimi- 
lar forms  were  associated  together,  while  other  very 
similar  ones  were  separated  by  large  intervals.  Before 
everything  else,  it  was  necessary  to  establish  an  exact 
classification.  Agassiz  found  in  the  scales  the  neces- 
sary elements  to  solve  the  problem,  and  he  recognized 
that  these  teguments  of  the  body  correspond  well  with 
the  interior  characters,  and  that  their  variations  are, 
in  general,  associated  with  and  due  to,  organic  differ- 
ences. He  accordingly  divided  fishes  into  the  follow- 
ing four  orders :  (1)  The  Cycloids,  with  scales,  rounded, 
smooth,  and  simple  at  the  margin,  composed  of  laminae 
of  horn  or  bone,  but  without  enamel,  —  endo-skeleton 
ossified;  (2)  the  Ctenoids,  with  scales  jagged  or  pecti- 
nated (like  the  teeth  of  a  comb)  on  the  posterior  margin, 
formed  by  laminae  of  horn,  but  without  enamel, —  endo- 
skeleton  ossified;  (3)  the  Ganoids,  with  angular  scales 
regularly  arranged  like  paving-stones,  and  composed  of 


214  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ix. 

horny  plates  covered  with  a  strong,  shining  enamel,  — 
endo-skeleton  cartilaginous,  in  some  partly  osseous  and 
partly  cartilaginous  ;  (4)  the  Placoids,  with  cartilaginous 
skeleton  and  skin  covered  irregularly  with  enamel 
plates,  sometimes  of  considerable  dimensions,  at  other 
times  reduced  to  small  points  like  the  prickly,  tooth- 
like tubercles  on  the  skin  of  rays. 

"  This  classification  allowed  easy  comparisons  and 
generalizations,  and  the  palaeontologic  history  of  the 
fishes  offered  results  not  at  all  expected  and  most  im- 
portant. These  animals  have  been  completely  renewed 
by  successive  creations,  and  whole  populations  of  them 
have  been  destroyed  to  make  room  for  others  which  were 
very  different.  Of  the  four  orders  indicated  above, 
the  Placoids,  or  cartilaginous  fishes,  have  existed  during 
all  the  geologic  periods,  though  they  have  undergone 
various  modifications,  most  remarkable  especially  in  the 
teeth.  But  the  other  three  orders  —  that  is,  the  osseous 
fishes  —  have  somehow  replaced  one  another.  Our 
present  seas  contain  almost  altogether  Ctenoids  and 
Cycloids,  and,  except  two  genera  of  Ganoids  living  in 
rivers  of  warm  countries,  these  two  orders  compose  all 
the  present  fauna  of  osseous  fishes,  while,  on  the  con- 
trary, none  existed  before  the  deposit  of  the  chalk,  and 
it  would  be  vain  to  look  in  all  the  preceding  epochs  for 
one  Ctenoid  or  one  Cycloid ;  that  is  to  say,  the  old  seas 
did  not  contain  a  single  fish  with  thin  horny  scales  like 
our  perches  or  our  trout,  while  in  the  present  fresh 
waters  and  seas  we  find  such  fishes  almost  altogether. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  the  Ganoids  were  most  common 
previous  to  the  Cretaceous  epoch,  and  that  order,  now 


1 843-44.]  POISSONS  FOSSILES.  215 

reduced,  as  I  have  said  above,  to  only  two  genera,  then 
formed  the  majority  of  the  population  of  the  seas. 
These  same  fishes  present  in  their  history  a  very  re- 
markable fact.  Until  the  Lias  epoch,  all  the  Ganoids 
possessed  on  the  superior  part  of  the  tail  a  lobe  formed 
by  a  prolongation  of  the  vertebrate  column.  But  from 
the  Lias,  on  the  contrary,  all  had  a  tail  formed  as  that 
of  the  osseous  fishes  of  the  present  time ;  that  is 
to  say,  the  vertebrate  column  stops  at  the  base  of 
the  tail. 

"It  is,  therefore,  possible  to  divide  the  palaeonto- 
logical  history  of  the  fishes  into  three  periods  or  epochs. 
During  the  first,  extending  from  the  Silurian  to  the 
Trias,  the  faunas  are  composed  of  Placoids  and  Ganoids 
with  the  vertebrate  column  prolonged  to  the  upper  lobe 
of  the  tail.  In  the  second,  which  corresponds  to  the 
Jurassic  epoch,  we  find  the  Placoids  and  Ganoids,  with 
the  ordinary  tail.  In  the  third,  which  began  during  the 
Cretaceous  epoch  and  continued  in  our  modern  period, 
the  Placoids,  the  Ctenoids,  and  the  Cycloids  form  almost 
entirely  the  ichthyological  population  of  the  world. 
Hence,  if  a  geologist  found  a  Ganoid  with  a  prolonged 
tail,  he  could  conclude  that  the  strata  in  which  he  found 
it  belonged  to  the  first  period;  a  Ganoid  with  an  ordi- 
nary tail  would  indicate,  with  sufficient  certainty,  that 
the  group  of  strata  belonged  to  the  second  epoch  ;  and 
so  on. 

"  It  is  easy  to  understand  the  interest  created  by  a 
work,  the  aim  and  result  of  which  are  to  demonstrate 
such  remarkable  laws,  more  especially  when  the  proofs 
are  based  on  an  incredible  number  of  facts  and  observa- 


216  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ix. 

tions.  The  work  of  Agassiz  mentions  more  than  one 
thousand  fossil  fishes,  with  descriptions  and  beautiful 
plates,  which  make  them  known  almost  as  well  as  if 
we  were  able  to  observe  them  alive. 

"  This  work  brought  its  author  complimentary  dis- 
tinctions from  several  academies  and  learned  societies. 
Particularly  during  a  journey  in  England  and  Scotland 
all  the  collections  were  open  to  him,  assistance  in  vari- 
ous ways  was  offered,  and  he  had  the  great  satisfaction 
of  seeing  with  what  astonishing  precision  the  numerous 
new  facts  which  he  daily  observed  confirmed  all  his 
previous  conclusions.  The  English  and  Scotch  geolo- 
gists for  many  years  kept  the  remembrance  of  some 
keen  anecdotes  on  the  subject. 

"  Agassiz's  researches  opened  a  new  path,  through 
which  he  continued  to  advance,  publishing  in  the  mean- 
time supplements  to  his  main  work  ;  among  them,  a 
'  Monographie  des  Poissons  du  vieux  gres  rouge,'  which 
was  soon  followed  by  one  on  the  '  Poissons  de  l'Argile 
de  Londres.'  The  first  of  these  monographs  furnished 
some  interesting  results,  both  geological  and  zoological ; 
in  particular,  it  demonstrated  two  most  important  laws  : 
ist,  the  analogy  existing  between  the  first  condition  of 
the  embryos  of  fishes  and  the  organization  of  fossil 
fishes  of  the  oldest  epochs ;  2d,  the  parallelism  exist- 
ing between  the  embryologic  development  of  the  fishes 
and  the  succession  of  the  different  types  of  these  ani- 
mals in  the  series  of  formations." 

There  is  nothing  to  add  regarding  the  great  value  of 
this  "vaste  publication,"  as  it  is  called  by  Pictet ;  but 
a  few  words  are  necessary  to  indicate  some  of  the  criti- 


1 843-44.]  PO/SSONS  FOSSILE,  217 

cism  which  it  called  forth,  and  to  meet  claims  which 
have  now  and  then  been  put  forward. 

Agassiz  knew  perfectly  well  that  his  classification  was 
artificial,  and  not  based  on  all  the  natural  principles,  as 
it  should  have  been,  and  as  Cuvier's  was  before  him  ;  but 
he  wanted  to  make  use  of  a  great  quantity  of  fragmen- 
tary specimens,  and  even  mere  scales  of  fishes,  which 
were  found  in  abundance,  and  which  otherwise  would 
have  been  useless,  and  would  have  left  a  great  gap  in 
his  series  of  forms.  He  wrorked  as  much  to  prove  the 
succession  of  fishes  in  the  different  systems  of  strata,  as 
to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  them  zoologically,  trying  to 
find  laws  which  might  be  used  in  palaeontology  to  clas- 
sify groups  of  strata  by  their  fossil  fishes.  And  he 
succeeded  admirably,  notwithstanding  the  defect  of  his 
empiric  classification. 

As  Dr.  A.  Giinther  says :  "  We  have  no  hesitation  in 
affirming  that  if  Agassiz  had  had  an  opportunity  of 
acquiring  a  more  extensive  and  intimate  knowledge  of 
existing  fishes  before  his  energies  were  absorbed  in  the 
study  of  fossil  remains,  he  would  himself  have  recog- 
nized the  artificial  character  of  his  classification.  The 
distinctions  between  Cycloid  and  Ctenoid  scales,  between 
Placoid  and  Ganoid  fishes,  are  vague,  and  can  hardly  be 
maintained.  So  far  as  the  living  and  post-Cretacean 
forms  are  concerned,  he  abandoned  the  vantage-ground 
gained  by  Cuvier ;  and  therefore  his  system  could  never 
supersede  that  of  his  predecessor,  and  finally  shared  the 
fate  of  every  classification  based  on  the  modifications  of 
one  organ  only.  But  Agassiz  has  the  merit  of  having 
opened  an  immense  new  field  of  researches  by  his  study 


2i8  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ix. 

of  the  infinite  variety  of  fossil  forms.  In  his  principal 
work,  '  Recherches  sur  les  Poissons  fossiles,'  1833— 
1843  (4to,  atlas  folio),  he  placed  them  before  the  world, 
arranged  in  a  methodical  manner,  with  excellent  descrip- 
tions and  illustrations.  His  power  of  discernment  and 
penetration  in  determining  even  the  most  fragmentary 
remains  is  truly  astonishing  ;  and  if  his  order  of  Ganoids 
is  an  assemblage  of  forms  very  different  from  what  is  now 
understood  by  that  term,  he  was,  at  any  rate,  the  first 
who  recognized  that  such  an  order  of  fishes  existed."1 

Agassiz  was  one  of  those  naturalists  who  find  it  easier 
to  discover  differences  than  to  bring  together  specimens 
of  fossils.  He  possessed  a  rare  power  of  discerning 
the  smallest  differences  between  allied  forms  of  ani- 
mals ;  but  sometimes  he  went  too  far,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Eocene  fossil  fishes  in  the  flysch  of  Glaris  (Switz- 
erland), where  the  cleavage  resulting  from  the  breaking 
and  compressing  of  the  strata,  during  the  dislocation  of 
the  Alps,  deformed  some  specimens  to  such  an  extent 
that  Agassiz  was  led  to  establish  six  species  of  Anen- 
cJiclum,  all  of  which  really  belong  to  a  single  species, 
Lcpidopus  glaronensis.  The  same  mistake  has  been 
noted  by  Dr.  A.  Wettstein  and  A.  Heim  for  species 
of  the  genus  PalcEorJiyncJmm,  Acauus,  etc.  ("  Actes  de 
la  Societe  Helvetique  des  Sciences  naturelles,"  Geneva, 
August,  1886,  pp.  46,  47).  India-rubber  models  of  some 
of  these  fossil  fishes,  when  pulled  in  certain  directions, 
give  as  many  species  as  Agassiz  founded ;  and  it  is  evi- 
dent that  Agassiz,  in  some  cases,  too  easily  multiplied 

1  "  Ichthyology,"  by  A.  Gunther,  in  "  Encyclopedia  Britannica,"  ninth 
edition,  Vol.  XII.,  p.  634,  London,  1881. 


1 843-44.]  COLLAR  OR-  1  TORS.  2 1 9 

the  number  of  species  without  proper  restriction.  But 
this  is  only  a  detail,  which  does  not  affect  the  final 
result  and  conclusions,  nor  the  prodigious  capacity  of 
his  memory,  in  which  lay  the  true  secret  of  his  classifica- 
tion of  fossil  fishes. 

In  regard  to  the  help  that  Agassiz  received  in  his 
"  Poissons  fossiles "  :  in  the  first  place,  the  excellent 
drawings  were  made  by  Dinkel  and  Mrs.  Agassiz,  those 
of  the  latter  being  fully  as  good  as  and  rivaling  in 
execution  the  best  of  the  artist  Dinkel.  Secondly,  after 
the  issue  of  the  first  twelve  parts  or  "  livraisons,"  Agas- 
siz made  a  great  deal  of  use  of  his  assistant  Karl  Vogt 
and  his  secretary  Desor,  in  preparing  the  bones  and  the 
scales,  and  in  writing  the  descriptions  of  species  and 
even  of  genera.  But  as  Vogt  wrote  me :  "  Agassiz 
avait  parfaitement  le  droit  de  s'attribuer  ces  travaux,  car 
il  me  payait  pour  cela,  j'etais  son  preparateur  a  gages 
sous  ce  rapport."  Only  one-third  of  the  work  was  thus 
prepared  with  his  two  collaborators,  under  Agassiz's 
direction  ;  but  this  may  be  said,  that  it  would  have  been 
much  better  if  he  himself  had  finished  what  he  had  so 
well  begun  and  continued  until  1838. 

At  the  end  of  July,  1843,  Agassiz  returned  to  his 
work  on  the  glacier  of  the  Aar.  A  new  cabin  had  been 
erected,  which  was  called  the  "Pavilion";  and  Daniel 
Dollfus-Ausset,  with  his  son,  established  himself  close 
by,  in  another  cabin.  The  time  was  passed  in  measurii 
the  motion  of  the  glacier,  its  temperature,  etc.,  and  in 
Alpine  climbing.  On  the  whole,  it  was  a  rather 
pensive  campaign,  and  the  results  were  inadequate 
compared  with  the  money  expended. 


220  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  rx. 

During  the  meeting  of  the  Helvetic  Society  of  Natural 
Sciences  at  Lausanne,  the  25th  and  26th  of  July, 
Agassiz  made  a  verbal  communication  in  regard  to  his 
researches  on  the  glaciers,  speaking  of  the  new  and 
more  practical  direction  given  to  his  studies,  and  insist- 
ing on  the  stratification  of  the  glaciers  and  the  blue 
bands  of  ice,  and  on  the  formation  of  crevasses.  At 
the  same  meeting,  he  spoke  of  the  great  value  of  fossil 
fishes  in  determining  the  ages  of  the  "terrains,"  and 
more  particularly  of  the  squaloid  teeth,  like  those  of 
the  true  sharks,  or  squalodonts,  the  Ptycholepis  of  the 
Chalk,  the  Strop Jwdus  of  the  Jura,  the  Acrodus  of  the 
Lias,  and  the  Psamnodus  of  the  Coal  measures. 

His  great  sociability,  which  attracted  so  many  people 
to  the  "  Hotel  des  Neuchatelois,"  was  exercised  on 
rather  a  large  scale  in  Neuchatel,  if  we  may  judge  by 
the  following  letter :  — 

Neuchatel,  23  decembre,  1843. 
Professeur  Jules  Pictet  de  la  Rive, 
Geneve. 

Mon  cher  ami,  —  Favre  vous  aura  fait  part  du  desir  que  j'ai  de 
reunir  ici  quelques  amis  Jeudi  prochain.  Je  viens  insister  aupres  de 
vous  pour  que  vous  soyez  de  la  partie. 

En  arrivant  Mercredi  soir  et  en  descendant  "  Aux  Alpes,"  vous 
trouverez  Merian,  Escher,  Studer  et  Valentin. 

L'un  de  mes  guides  m'a  procure  un  jeune  chamois  dont  nous 
depecerons  les  os  Jeudi  chez  moi.  Faites-moi  le  plaisir  devenir; 
si  vous  pouvez,  amenez  les  Plantamour. 

Votre  tout  devoue, 

Ls.  Agassiz. 

His  prodigious  power  of  attraction  is  shown  in  his 
ability  to  bring  together,  for  a  single  dinner  party,  at 


1 843-44.]        HOSPITALITY  AT  NEUCHATEL.  221 

Christmas  time,  during  the  snowy  season,  savants  from 
every  part  of  Switzerland,  from  Bale,  Zurich,  Berne, 
Geneva,  etc.,  and  at  a  time  when  travelling  was  not 
easy,  as  it  is  now,  with  railroads  in  every  direction. 
Nothing  shows  better  that  Agassiz  was  an  accepted 
leader  among  the  scientific  men  of  Switzerland. 

The  year  1844  was  a  sad  year  with  Agassiz.  We 
must  turn  back  a  few  years  in  order  to  understand  the 
state  of  affairs,  and  how,  little  by  little,  he  jeoparded 
his  position  by  a  complete  incapacity  to  manage  his 
assistants,  his  many  employees,  and  his  too  numerous 
undertakings.  Too  great  familiarity  with  his  assistants, 
and  inability  to  keep  them  at  respectful  distance,  re- 
sulted in  his  having  no  authority  over  them.  If  Agassiz 
was  a  genius  in  natural  history,  in  private  life  he  was 
entirely  unable  to  manage  his  immediate  surroundings. 
Speaking  of  Agassiz's  establishment  at  Neuchatel,  Karl 
Vogt  says :  "  It  was  a  scientific  factory  with  a  com- 
munity of  property;  only,  unhappily,  neither  the  num- 
ber of  workmen  nor  the  capital  engaged  was  sufficient 
and  in  proportion  to  the  production."  It  was  also  an 
overworked  establishment.  Agassiz,  as  its  director,  had 
to  provide  everything ;  first  the  money,  for  all  were 
penniless ;  and  the  life  they  led,  though  without  luxury, 
was,  after  all,  rather  expensive;  for  to  travel  all  over 
Switzerland,  to  stay  at  the  "Hotel  des  Neuchatel. >i 
keep  open  house  at  Neuchatel  not  only  for  his  ist- 
ants,  but  also  for  all  the  naturalists  who  were  continually 
coming  from  every  part  of  Europe,  required  a  constant 
expenditure  of  no  small  amount  of  money.  Besides  the 
work  of  providing  the  money,  Agassiz  had  an  oversight 


222  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ix. 

of  every  work  going  on ;  he  had  to  dictate  letters,  to 
insert  sentences  in  the  descriptions  of  his  assistants  in 
order  to  connect  them  and  give  them  unity,  to  read  and 
correct  at  least  one  of  the  proofs;  even  to  direct  the 
draughtsmen,  and  to  select  the  drawings  to  be  used,  in 
regard  to  the  artistic  merits  of  which  he  was  very 
critical  and  a  capital  judge,  seeing  faults  where  others 
were  glad  to  admire  the  fine  execution.  Agassiz  was 
well  seconded  by  the  artists  in  his  service  ;  but  scien- 
tifically the  assistance  he  received  was  rather  deficient. 
Karl  Vogt  had  been  educated  as  a  naturalist,  and  soon 
became  most  efficient  in  regard  to  the  anatomy  and  the 
embryology  of  fishes ;  he  also  worked  out  the  osteology 
and  neurology,  prepared  the  specimens,  made  the  draw- 
ings, and  wrote  the  descriptions.  He  was  a  first-rate 
assistant,  knowing  well  his  duties ;  and  during  the  five 
years  of  his  connection  with  Agassiz  he  did  a  great 
amount  of  good  work.  Although  he  always  insisted 
that  he  was  not  a  pupil  of  Agassiz,  having  learned 
zoology  in  Germany,  there  is  no  doubt  of  the  great  influ- 
ence exerted  by  Agassiz  on  his  work  during  the  first 
ten  years  of  his  life  as  a  naturalist. 

In  October,  1837,  as  we  have  seen,  Agassiz  engaged 
Desor  as  his  private  secretary,  who,  until  then  had  done 
nothing  in  natural  history,  with  which  he  was  not  even 
acquainted,  beyond  the  general  knowledge  possessed 
by  any  student  of  a  university.  Employed  first  as  a 
translator  and  a  writer  of  dictated  letters,  he  soon 
acquired  sufficient  knowledge  of  fossil  fishes  and  fossil 
echinoderms,  to  help  in  describing  species.  Under 
Agassiz's  teaching  he  made  such  rapid  progress  that, 


1 843-44.]  SCIENTIFIC  LIFE. 

in  three  years,  he  became  a  useful  assistant,  not  only  in 
pakeontological  works,  but  also  in  the  work  on  the 
glaciers  and  the  glacial  question.  Vogt  says  of  him, 
that  in  1840  Desor  was  the  "  cheville  ouvriere'  (key- 
stone) of  the  whole  Agassiz  establishment;  and  Agassiz, 
on  the  nth  of  June,  1840,  writes:  — 

Dans  la  redaction  de  cette  seconde  partie  (Cidarides)  de  mon 
memoire  ("  Description  des  Echinodermes  fossiles  de  la  Suisse") 
j'ai  ete  continuellement  assiste  par  M.  Desor,  qui  a  continue  a  me 
preter  l'appui  de  sa  plume  facile,  comme  il  Pavait  deja  fait  pour  la 
premiere  partie.  Mais  cette  fois  son  travail  ne  s'est  pas  born 
une  simple  redaction ;  Pexamen  comparatif  des  nombreuses  especes 
des  genres  Diademe  et  Cidaris,  dont  les  caracteres  sont  si  difficiles  a 
apprecier,  est  meme  entierement  de  son  fait.  Cependant  j'en  ai 
revu  la  description,  afin  d'en  partager  avec  lui  la  responsabilitc  scien- 
tifique.  II  nfest  precieux  d'avoir  trouve  dans  un  ami  un  collaborateur 
aussi  distingue. 

Desor  had  no  initiative  faculty,  and  was  totally  devoid 
of  original  ideas.  He  never  rose  above  a  third-rate 
naturalist,  retaining  all  his  life  the  spirit  of  a  lawyer, 
with  a  special  tendency  to  politics  and  a  politician's 
methods.  Charles  Girard  was  in  too  modest  a  position  to 
be  helpful  scientifically,  except  in  the  work  of  compila- 
tion, which  he  always  performed  very  industriously.  As 
regards  Gressly,  the  help  he  gave  Agassiz  was  invalu- 
able; the  exact  geological  position  of  two-thirds  of  the 
fossils  described  in  the  different  palaeontological  works  of 
Agassiz  was  learned  from  him;  and  he  furnished  more 
than  half  of  the  best  specimens  of  the  echinoderms, 
the  Myas  and  the  Trigonias.  In  the  scientific  associa- 
tion directed  by  Agassiz,  Gressly  acted  as  the  St  Bernard 
dog,  faithful,  true,  living,  no  one  knew  exactly  how. 


224  LOUIS  AGASS1Z.  [chap.  ix. 

the  crumbs  from  the  table  always  spread  in  Agassiz's 
home  ;  always  satisfied,  always  respectful,  and  never  so 
happy  as  when  Agassiz  expressed  his  admiration  of  the 
beautiful  and  rare  fossils  he  drew  from  his  numerous 
and  large  pockets  on  his  return  from  his  never-ending 
explorations  in  the  Jura.  However,  an  assistant  as 
modest  and  inexpensive  as  Gressly  is  a  rare  exception, 
and  Agassiz  never  again  found  one  like  him. 

It  was  evident  that  something  was  wrong  in  the 
whole  establishment,  and  that  running  on  such  a  basis 
it  would  not  last  long.  In  fact,  1844  was  its  last  year, 
as  we  shall  see  further  on.  But  before  relating  the 
numerous  incidents  which  one  by  one  occurred  and  fin- 
ally destroyed,  at  least  partially,  that  extraordinary  and 
brilliant  scientific  centre,  due  entirely  to  the  genius  of 
Agassiz,  it  is  pleasing  to  call  attention  to  two  of  the 
best  works  done  at  Neuchatel  under  the  impulse  of 
this  remarkable  man. 

One  of  his  most  important  works,  and  certainly  his 
most  original,  is  the  "  Monographie  des  Poissons  fos- 
siles  du  Vieux  Gres  rouge  ou  Systeme  Devonien  [Old 
Red  Sandstone]  des  iles  Britanniques  et  de  Russie " 
(4to,  with  a  folio  atlas  of  forty-one  plates),  which  was 
issued  by  "  livraisons,"  or  parts,  the  last  three  being 
distributed  in  August,  1844.  The  material  used  was 
mainly  the  specimens  collected  at  Cromarty,  in  the 
North  of  Scotland,  by  the  celebrated  geologist  and 
stonecutter  Hugh  Miller. 

During  the  ten  years  previous  to  Agassiz's  visit  at 
Cromarty,  in  September,  1840,  Miller,  with  great 
patience   and  skill,   had   unearthed   from   the    old   red 


1 843-44.]  HUGH  MILLER.  225 

sandstone  the  most  wonderful  forms  of  animals  3 
found.  Agassiz  says  of  some  of  them  :  "  It  is  im- 
possible to  see  aught  more  bizarre  in  all  creation  than 
the  Pterichthyan  genus:  the  same  astonishment  that 
Cuvier  felt  in  examining  the  Plcsi  ostiums,  I  myself  ex- 
perienced, when  Mr.  II.  Miller,  the  first  discoverer  of 
these  fossils,  showed  me  the  specimens  which  he  had 
detected  in  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  of  Cromarty."  As 
early  as  183 1,  Miller  found  the  Ptcriclithys,  or  winged 
fish;  but  Agassiz  did  not  hear  of  it  until  1S38,  when  a 
description  and  drawing  was  shown  him  in  Paris  by 
an  English  naturalist:  he  was  greatly  interested  in  this 
new  form  of  life,  and  very  anxious  to  see  more  of  it. 
The  following  extract  from  Hugh  Miller's  principal  and 
most  popular  work,  "The  Old  Red  Sandstone,"  explains 
how  Agassiz  was  first  made  acquainted  with  Miller's 
wonderful  discoveries :  — 

A  letter  which  I  wrote  early  in  1838  to  Dr.  Malcolmson,  then  at 
Paris,  and  which  contained  a  rude  drawing  of  the  PtericJithys^  v. 
submitted  to  Agassiz,  and  the  curiosity  of  the  naturalist  was         ted. 
He  examined  the  figure,  rather,  however,  with  interest  than   sur- 
prise, and  read   the   accompanying   description,  not   in   the    K 
inclined   to   scepticism  by  the  singularity  of  its  details.     He  had 
looked  on  too  many  wonders  of  a  similar  cast  to  believe  that  he 
had  exhausted  them,  or  to  evince  any  astonishment  that  geol< 
should  be  found  to  contain    one  wonder   more    ("The    OKI    K 
Sandstone "'  by  Hugh  Miller,  p.  119,  Boston,  1S54) . 

Although  Agassiz  had  great  sympathy  and  very  c 
dial  relations  with  Hugh  Miller,  their  correspondence 
was  extremely  limited.     Mrs.   Agassiz    says   that   with 
a  single  exception   no   letters   have    been    found    from 
him  among  Agassiz's  papers;  and  she  gives  that  unique 

Q 


226  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ix. 

letter  in  Vol.  II.,  pp.  470-477  of  her  work  ("  Louis 
Agassiz,  His  Life  and  Correspondence ").  Lately 
another  letter  has  been  found  in  Switzerland  by 
M.  Auguste  Mayor,  and  I  here  give  an  extract  from  it. 
The  principal  part  is  descriptive  of  specimens  of  fossil 
fishes  sent  to  Agassiz,  which  would  be  unintelligible 
without  good  figures,  and  is  consequently  omitted ; 
but  the  parts  given  are  interesting  on  account  of  the 
great  originality  and  keenness  of  the  writer. 

Cromarty,  30th  May,  1838. 
Professor  Agassiz, 

Neuchatel. 

Honored  sir,  —  I  have  just  learned  from  my  friend  Dr.  Mal- 
colmson  that  you  have  expressed  a  wish  to  see  one  of  the  fossils  of 
my  little  collection.  I  herewith  send  it  you  and  a  few  others  which 
you  may  perhaps  take  some  interest  in  examining. 

I  fain  wish  I  could  describe  well  enough  to  give  you  correct  ideas 
of  the  locality  in  which  they  occur.  Imagine  a  lofty  promontory 
somewhat  resembling  a  huge  spear  thrust  horizontally  into  the  sea, — 
an  immense  mass  of  granitic  gneiss,  forming  the  head  and  a  long 
rectilinear  line  of  Old  Red  Sandstone  the  shaft.  On  the  south  side 
are  the  waters  of  the  Moray  Firth,  on  the  north  those  of  the  Firth 
of  Cromarty.  The  claystone  beds  which  contain  the  fossils  occupy 
an  upper  place  on  the  sandstone  shaft,  covering  it  saddlewise  from 
tilth  to  firth.  A  bed  of  yellowish  stone  about  sixty  feet  in  thick- 
ness lies  over  them,  except  where  they  are  laid  bare  by  the  sea,  or 
cut  into  by  two  deep  ravines  —  a  bed  of  redder  stone  of  unascer- 
tainable  depth  (though  it  may  be  measured  downwards  for  consid- 
erably more  than  one  hundred  yards)  lies  beneath.  The  beds 
themselves  average  from  ten  to  thirty  feet  in  thickness.  They 
abound  everywhere  in  obscure  vegetable  impressions  and  fossil 
fishes,  but  in  some  little  spots  these  last  are  much  better  preserved 
than  in  the  general  mass.  All  my  more  delicately  marked  fossils 
have  been  furnished  by  one  little  piece  of  beach  hardly  more  than 
lorty  square  yards  in  extent. 


1 843-44-]  LETTER   OF  HUGH  MILLER.  227 

Of  all  the  fossils  of  these  beds,  the  one  with  the  tuberculated 
covering  seems  least  akin  to  anything  that  exists  at  present.  1 
have  split  up  many  hundred  nodules  containing  remains  of  this 
animal,  for  in  the  time  of  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  it  must  have 
existed  by  myriads  in  this  part  of  Scotland.  The  larger  oiks  I 
have  invariably  found  broken  and  imperfect.  The  nodules  in 
which  they  occur  are  in  general  too  small  to  contain  more  than 
detached  parts  of  them  when  large ;  and  besides,  the  coat  of  the 
creature,  consisting  of  hard  plates  separated  apparently  by  sutures, 
must  have  offered  a  very  unequal  degree  of  resistance  to  the  super- 
incumbent weight.  And,  however,  though  the  plates  themselves 
are  often  as  well  defined  and  entire  as  the  bits  of  a  dissected  map, 
they  are  almost  always  found  displaced  and  lying  apart.  It  is  only 
the  smaller  fossils  that  I  find  perfect  enough  to  furnish  me  with 
anything  like  adequate  ideas  of  the  original  shape  of  the  animal  : 
but  in  these,  though  the  general  outline  be  better  preserved,  the 
plates  are  comparatively  obscure.  Thus  the  bits  of  the  dissected 
map  still  want  a  key,  and  I  have  not  yet  become  skilful  enough  to 
place  them  together  without  one. 

The  form  of  the  body  of  the  creature  seems  to  have  somewhat 
resembled  that  of  a  tortoise.  .   .  .     Pardon  me,  honored  Sir,  that  I 
use  this  minute  in  describing  these  differences  to  you  who  obsei 
better  than  any  one  else  and  can  make  a  better  use  of  what  you 
observe.     I  have  not  succeeded  in  convincing  some  of  our  northern 
geologists  that  we  have  two  varieties  of  small  scaled  fish   in  our 
beds,  and   I  am  now  appealing  to  you  as  our  common  judge,  and 
thus  showing  the  ground  of  my  appeal.     Besides,  as  1  cannot  send 
you  my  specimens  by  hundreds,  I  deem  it  best  (though  it  may  seem 
presumptuous  in  one  so  unskilled)  to  communicate  in  this  way  the 
result  of  my  examinations  of   the    whole.      One  single   specimen 
sometimes  furnishes  a  characteristic  tract  regarding  which  perha 
fifty  illustrations  of  the  same  fossil  may  be  silent.     Among  all  my 
specimens  of  the  fish  with  the  spines,  only  one  shows  me  that  the 
animal  was  marked  by  a  lateral  line.   ...     I  am  afraid,  ho 
that  when  thus  communicating  the   results   of  some   of    my   petty 
observations,  I  am  but  gaining  for  myself  the  reputation  ol   beil 
tedious  fellow. 


228  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ix. 

I  need  not  say  how  heartily  welcome  you  are  to  the  specimens  I 
send  you,  should  you  have  any  wish  to  retain  them.  .  .  .  Do  I  ask 
too  much,  honored  Sir,  when  I  request  a  very  few  lines  from  you 
to  say  whether  the  formation  in  which  these  fossils  occur  be  a 
freshwater  one,  or  otherwise,  and  whether  the  small  scaled  fish  with 
the  teeth  be  of  a  kind  already  known  to  geologists  or  a  new  one? 
I  am  much  alone  in  this  remote  corner  —  a  kind  of  Robinson 
Crusoe  in  geology  —  and  somewhat  in  danger  of  the  savages  who 
cannot  be  made  to  understand  why,  according  to  Job,  a  man  should 
be  "making  leagues  with  the  stones  of  the  field."1  But  I  am  san- 
guine enough  to  hope  that  the  good  nature,  of  which  my  friend  Dr. 
Malcolmson  speaks  so  warmly,  may  lead  its  owner  to  devote  a  few 
spare  minutes  to  render  these  leagues  useful  to  me. 

I  am,  I  trust,  sufficiently  acquainted  with  geology,  rightly  to 
value  the  decisions  of  its  highest  authority. 

I  am,  honored  Sir,  with  sincere  respect, 

Your  most  obedient  Servant, 

Hugh  Miller. 

P.S.  —  Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  picked  up  a  specimen 
which,  I  am  pretty  sure,  you  would  deem  interesting,  but  for  which 
I  have  unluckily  no  room  in  the  box.  It  contains  parts  of  the 
tuberculated  fossil,  and  among  the  rest  the  teeth  of  the  creature. 
These  last  somewhat  resemble  the  teeth  of  a  lobster,  being  appar- 
ently cut  out  of  the  solid  part  of  the  jaw  rather  than  fixed  in  it. 

H.  M. 

Miller  found  more  specimens,  and  more  perfect  ones, 
in  newly  discovered  beds  of  Old  Red  of  Nairnshire,  and 
when  Agassiz  visited  him  in  1840,  he  showed  him  three 
well-preserved  species  of  the  PtericJithys,  and  the  wings 
of  a  fourth.  To  one  of  these  remarkable  animals,  look- 
ing like  the  letter  T,  Agassiz  has  given  the  appropriate 
name  of  PtericJitliys  Milleri.  Complete  and  good  speci- 
mens were  exhibited  at  the  Glasgow  Meeting  of  1840, 
and  some  restorations  of   the  animals  were  made  by 


1 843-44.]  OLD   RED  SANDSTONE. 

Dinkel,  in  1844,  for  the  "Medals  of  Creation"  by  Dr. 
G.  Mantell,  and  were  reproduced  in  the  "Vestiges  oi 
Creation."  But  Dinkel,  so  well  trained,  and  so  long 
Agassiz's  artist  of  fossil  fishes,  was  not  successful  ;  and 
he  failed  also  in  trying  the  restoration  of  another  rather 
curious  form  of  Old  Red  fish,  the  Coccosteus  or  berry-on- 
bone.  These  two  examples  show  what  strange  creatures 
existed  during  the  Devonian  period,  and  the  credit  of 
determining  their  place  is  due  to  Agassiz's  keen  eyes 
and  great  knowledge  of  comparative  anatomy ;  for  lie 
did  not  hesitate,  on  receiving  the  first  broken  and  very 
imperfect  specimens,  to  say  that  the  creatures  must  have 
been  fishes.  As  Miller  says:  "I  received  new  light  from 
the  researches  of  Agassiz  which,  while  it  did  not  show  my 
way  more  clearly,  rendered  it  at  least  more  interesting 
by  associating  with  it  one  of  those  wonderful  truths, 
stranger  than  fiction,  which  rise  ever  and  anon  from  the 
profounder  depths  of  science,  and  whose  use,  in  their 
connection  with  the  human  intellect,  seems  to  be  to 
stimulate  the  faculties.  I  have  often  had  occasion  to  re- 
fer to  the  one-sided  condition  of  tail  characteristic  of  the 
ichthyolites  of  the  Old  Red  Sandstone."  "  It  character- 
izes," says  Agassiz,  "the  fish  of  all  the  most  ancient  for- 
mations. At  one  certain  point  in  the  descending  scale, 
Nature  entirely  alters  her  plan  in  the  formation  oi  the 
tail.  All  the  ichthyolites  above  are  fashioned  alter  one 
particular  type  —  all  below  after  another  and  different 
type."1 

In  his  preface  to  "The  Old  Red  Sandstone.  as- 

siz   says:    "So   true   is   it    that    observation    alone    is   a 
1  "The  Old  Red  Sandstone,"  pp.  115-110.  Boston,  1S54. 


230  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ix. 

safe  guide  to  the  laws  of  development  of  organized 
beings,  and  that  we  must  be  on  our  guard  against  all 
those  systems  of  transformation  of  species  so  lightly 
invented  by  the  imagination."  What  a  prophetic  and 
true  sentence  against  Darwin's  "  Origin  of  Species," 
published  fifteen  years  after.  Observations  and  facts 
only  are  given  in  his  "  Old  Red  Fishes,"  which  he  has 
well  summarized  in  the  following  words :  "  What  I  wish 
to  prove  here,  by  a  careful  discussion  of  the  facts 
reported  in  the  following  pages,  is  the  truth  of  the  law 
now  so  clearly  demonstrated  in  the  series  of  verte- 
brates, that  the  successive  creations  have  undergone 
phases  of  development  analogous  to  those  of  the  embryo 
in  its  growth,  and  similar  to  the  gradations  shown  by 
the  present  creation  in  the  ascending  series,  which  it 
presents  as  a  whole.  One  may  consider  it  as  hence- 
forth proved  that  the  embryo  of  the  fish  during  its 
development,  the  class  of  fishes  as  it  at  present  exists 
in  its  numerous  families,  and  the  type  of  fishes  in  its 
planetary  history,  exhibit  analogous  phases  through 
which  one  may  follow  the  same  creative  thought  like  a 
guiding  thread  in  the  study  of  the  connection  between 
organized  being.  .  .  .  The  facts,  taken  as  a  whole, 
seem  to  me  to  show,  not  only  that  the  fishes  of  the  Old 
Red  constitute  an  independent  fauna,  distinct  from  those 
of  other  deposits,  but  that  they  also  present  in  their 
organization  the  most  remarkable  analogy  with  the  first 
phases  of  embryologic  development  in  the  bony  fishes 
of  our  epoch,  and  a  no  less  marked  parallelism  with  the 
lower  degrees  of  certain  types  of  the  class  as  it  now 
exists  on  the  surface  of  the  earth." 


1 843-44-]      FOSSIL  FISHES   OF  THE    OLD   RED.  231 

The  "Monograph  of  the  Fossil  Fishes  of  the 
Old  Red'  is  more  important  for  the  embryoloj 
development,  the  zoological  gradation,  the  geological 
succession,  and  the  geographical  distribution  in  the 
past  and  the  present,  than  the  "  Origin  of  Species," 
by  Darwin.  It  has  remained,  and  will  continue  to 
remain,  a  landmark  in  zoological  researches,  becau 
nothing  in  it  is  left  to  supposition.  Instead  of  being 
a  work  of  the  imagination,  a  philosophical  dissertation, 
like  the  "  Origin  of  Species,"  it  is  simply  a  record  of 
facts  and  very  keen  observations  ;  and  in  science,  and 
more  especially  in  natural  history,  nothing  is  of  value 
except  exact  observations.  Agassiz  was  not  an  op- 
ponent of  development;  on  the  contrary,  he  gave  facts 
in  its  favour,  many  years  before  Darwin  did  ;  but  lie 
was  averse  to  drawing  too  hasty  conclusions  ;  and 
he  leaned  all  the  time  "upon  an  intellectual  coherence. 
and  not  upon  a  material  connection";  and  lie  thought 
that  variability  seemed  controlled  by  something  more 
than  the  mechanism  of  self-adjusting  forces.  In 
word,  Agassiz,  after  his  student  life,  was  not  a 
materialist,  but  a  spiritualist,  in  natural  history,  an 
adversary,  both  of  agnosticism  and  of  pietism  ;  tor  he 
says:  "I  dread  quite  as  much  the  exaggeration  oi 
religious  fanaticism,  borrowing  fragments  from  sciem 
imperfectly,  or  not  at  all,  understood,  and  then  making 
use  of  them  to  prescribe  to  scientific  men  what  they 
are  allowed  to  see  or  to  find  in  nature  "  (  Louis  A 
in  a   letter  to   Professor  Adam  Sedgwick,  dated  June. 

1845  ')■ 

1  "Louis  Agassiz,"  by  Mrs.  E.  I  .   Igassiz,  Vol.  I..  , 


232  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ix. 

The  "  Histoire  naturelle  des  Poissons  d'Eau  douce 
de  l'Europe  Centrale  "  remained  unfinished,  and  has  a 
rather  curious  history.  Agassiz  began  it  as  far  back 
as  1828,  when  he  was  a  student  at  Munich,  and  when 
his  artist  friend,  Joseph  Dinkel,  was  already  making 
drawings  of  freshwater  fishes  for  him. 

In  1839  appeared  the  first  "livraison'  of  a  folio 
atlas,  published  "  aux  frais  de  l'auteur,"  and  dedicated 
to  the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science.  This  first  monograph  treated  of  the  salmon 
family,  and  was  divided  into  two  parts :  the  first,  con- 
taining the  twenty-seven  well-executed  and  luxuriously 
printed  plates  by  Dinkel,  Sonrel,  and  Nicolet,  illus- 
trating the  genera  Salvio  and  Thymalus,  with  explana- 
tions in  French,  German,  and  English,  and  with  a  cover 
designed  by  Dinkel,  representing  fishes  in  all  sorts  of 
attitudes  and  groups,  with  a  boy  four  years  old  —  the 
portrait  of  Alexander  Agassiz  —  fishing  on  the  shore 
of  the  Lake  of  Neuchatel.  The  second  part  of  the 
plates  was  announced  to  be  issued  with  the  first  vol- 
ume of  text ;  but  changes  were  made,  and  the  text  of 
Vol.  I.,  containing  the  "  Embryologie  des  Salmones," 
by  C.  Vogt,  was  published  in  1842,  without  plates,  the 
latter  being  issued  in  1848,  in  Vol.  III.  of  the  "  Memoires 
des  Sciences  naturelles  de  Neuchatel." 

Agassiz,  under  the  date  of  1845,  in  the  introduction 
of  the  "  Anatomie  des  Salmones,"  by  L.  Agassiz  and 
C.  Vogt,  gives  the  following  explanation :  "  The  ana- 
tomical studies  contained  in  this  memoir  were  under- 
taken for  the  '  Histoire  naturelle  des  Poissons  d'Eau 
douce  de  l'Europe  Centrale,  de  M.  Agassiz,'  and  were 


1 843-44-]  K-   VOGT  /.EAVES  AGASSIZ. 

at  first  destined  to  form  the  second  volume.  Some 
special  circumstances  have  led  the  editor  to  adopt 
another  mode  of  publication. 

"In  order  to  render  justice  to  every  one,  it  is  desir- 
able to  remark  here  that  the  Osteology  and  the  Neurol- 
ogy are  due  to  the  researches  of  M.  Agassiz,  while 
the  Myology,  the  Splanctionology \  the  description  of 
the  'sensitive  organs'  and  the  Angiology  have  been 
worked  out  by  M.  Vogt.  All  the  plates  were  drawn 
by  M.  Vogt.  This  work  dates  as  far  back  as  1843  and 
1844,  a  few  observations  being  added  in  1845. 

"L.  A." 

That  Agassiz  directed  the  work  and  freely  gave  his 
advice  to  Vogt,  there  is  no  doubt;  but  in  some  way 
Vogt  became  dissatisfied.  He  disapproved  of  the 
organization  and  methods  of  Agassiz's  establishment, 
and  was  more  or  less  disappointed  in  his  expectation 
and,  in  consequence,  in  the  autumn  of  1844,  alter  act- 
ing as  Agassiz's  assistant  for  five  years  —  during  which 
time  he  certainly  worked  most  efficientlv  and  very  hard 
—  he  left  him  to  try  his  fortune  in  Paris.  Strange  to 
say,  the  break  between  Agassiz  and  Vogt,  instead  of 
healing  as  the  years  went  by,  increased  to  such  an 
extent,  that  they  were  very  unjust  and  bitter  towards 
one  another.     It  must  be  regretted,  for  nothin  illy 

important  and  seriously  affecting  either   had   occurred 
between    them.      Agassiz    never    published    anything 
against   Vogt,   though   Vogt   might   have   shown   more 
discretion  in  his  printed  criticism  ;  and  I  do  not  hesital 
to  say  that  he  was  unjust  and  guilt)    of  exa        ration 


234  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ix. 

touching  some  points,  and  that  all  that  he  says  about 
Agassiz's  life  in  America  is  absolutely  erroneous.  He 
disliked  Neuchatel  and  the  Neuchatelois,  and  most  of 
his  indignation  was  hurled  against  them  through  and  to 
the  detriment  of  Agassiz. 

Although  Agassiz  spent  a  few  days  in  1843  on  the 
Aar  glacier,  his  interest  in  the  work  going  on  there 
was  manifestly  lessening,  and  in  1844  ne  failed  to  make 
his  usual  summer  visit. 

In  July,  1844,  Desor,  with  the  permission  of  Agassiz, 
published  a  very  interesting  and  well  written  volume, 
entitled,  "  Excursions  et  Sejours  dans  les  Glaciers  et 
les  hautes  Regions  des  Alpes,  de  M.  Agassiz  et  de  ses 
Compagnons  de  Voyage  "  (Neuchatel,  i2mo).  The  vol- 
ume begins  with  an  excellent  "  Notice  sur  les  Glaciers," 
by  Agassiz,  a  masterly  paper,  which  gives  a  scientific 
turn  to  the  whole  work ;  the  rest  is  written  in  a  pictur- 
esque style,  and  in  imitation  of  the  celebrated  and  popu- 
lar works  of  Rudolph  Topffer,  the  artistic  and  "spirituel " 
author  of  the  "  Nouvelles  Genevoises  "  and  the  "  Voy- 
ages en  zig-zag." 

It  was  certainly  very  generous  in  Agassiz  to  allow 
his  secretary  to  publish  at  this  time  all  his  researches 
on  the  glaciers  and  among  the  Alps  ;  for  it  affected  the 
sale  of  his  own  "  Etudes  sur  les  Glaciers'  (1840)  and 
"Nouvelles  Etudes  sur  les  glaciers  actuels "  (1847). 
The  last  one,  more  especially,  found  no  sale  at  all, 
everything  in  it  having  been  anticipated  by  Desor's 
publication,  which,  though  not  so  fully  developed,  ren- 
dered Agassiz's  work  almost  superfluous.  Desor  had 
taken  the  lead  in  the  glacial  question,  and  was  strug- 


1 843-44.]  MEETING  AT  CHAMBERY. 

gling  with  its  physical  problems,  for  which  he  was  quite 
as  little  prepared  as  Agassiz.     Every  impartial  observer 
saw  this  plainly;  and  it  was  melancholy  to  see  Agassi. 
already  straitened  resources  expended  upon  almost  11 
less  works. 

Although  the  extraordinary  meeting  of  the  Geological 
Society  of  France,  in  the  Swiss  Jura,  at  Porrentruy, 
Soleure,  and  Bienne,  in  1838,  had  much  advanced  the 
recognition  of  the  glacial  question,  it  was  important  that 
another  meeting  should  be  held,  this  time  in  the  very 
centre  of  the  phenomena,  among  the  Alps.  The  city 
of  Chambery,  then  belonging  to  the  kingdom  of  Pied- 
mont and  Sardinia,  was  chosen,  and  the  society  held  it^ 
extraordinary  session  there,  during  the  month  of  August. 
1844.  Agassiz  presided  over  several  of  the  meetings  ; 
as  did  also  Bishop  Rendu.  Here  these  two  great  mas- 
ters of  the  glacial  theory  met  and  entirely  agreed. 
After  a  full  and  very  clear  exposition  by  Bishop  Rendu 
of  his  "  Theorie  sur  les  Glaciers  en  General,"1  the  15th 
of  August,  Agassiz  says  that  he  agreed  "entirely  with 
the  theory  as  it  was  explained  by  Bishop  Rendu.' 
Numerous  adversaries,  representing  the  theories  of  mud 
currents,  or  also  of  icebergs,  tried  hard  to  oppose  them; 
but  one  after  another  was  silenced  by  the  numerous 
facts  brought  forward  by  Agassiz,  Rendu,  and  other- 
It  was  the  last  strong  attempt  to  resist  the  glacial  the- 
ory.  Afterward,  Elie  de  Beaumont  and  his  numerous 
adherents  in  France  and  Italy,  as  well  as  Leopold  \^n 
Buch,  continued  their  opposition,  in   a  sort  of   Platonic 

1  "  Bulletin  Societe  geologique  tie   France,"   2i*nw  serie,  Vol.   I.,  pp. 

631-636,  Paris,  1844. 


236  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ix. 

way,  to  cover  their  retreat.  But  we  may  truly  say  that 
the  Chambery  session  of  the  Geological  Society  of 
France  was  the  Waterloo  of  the  mud  theory  for  trans- 
portation of  boulders. 

Agassiz,  as  usual  with  him,  was  very  brilliant  in  his 
exposition  of  all  the  observations  he  had  made  on  the 
glacier  of  the  Aar ;  and  Bishop  Rendu  admirably  de- 
scribed the  phenomena  in  Savoy.  Agassiz,  more  espe- 
cially, insisted  that  proofs  accumulated  every  year  to 
show  that  the  "  Ice-age '  extended  all  over  Europe, 
and  that  the  Alps  were  formerly  a  great  central  mass  of 
ice,  extending  forty  leagues  all  around,  as  far  as  Lyons. 
Professor  Angelo  Sismonda,  of  Turin,  continued  to 
maintain  that  the  phenomena  did  not  extend  to  the 
southern  part  of  the  Alps  of  Piedmont,  until  Professor 
Bartholomeo  Gastaldi  finally  proved  beyond  question,  in 
1850,  that  ancient  glaciers  occupied  the  whole  valley  of 
the  P6  and  other  valleys  in  Piedmont,  just  as  they  did 
the  valleys  of  the  Rhone,  the  Arve  and  the  Isere  rivers. 
I  well  remember  those  discussions,  for  I  was  a  hearer 
of  several  of  them,  and  can  vouch  for  the  splendid  part 
taken  by  Agassiz  in  hastening  the  acceptance  of  the 
glacial  doctrine.  We  may  say,  without  any  exaggeration, 
that  the  interference  of  Agassiz  advanced  fully  thirty 
years  the  recognition  of  the  glacial  theory,  and  that  he, 
and.  he  alone,  established  the  great  "  Ice-age." 

Signs  of  bad  management  were  visible  in  more  than 
one  direction.  The  great  lithographic  institution  of 
Hercule  Nicolet  was  kept  running  with  the  greatest 
difficulty.  After  bringing  about  an  association  of  Nico- 
let with  a  capitalist,  M.  Jeanjaquet,  Agassiz  was  con- 


1 843-44.]         DINKEL  LEAVES  NEUCHATEL.  237 

stantly  obliged  to  furnish  work  absolutely  unnecessary 
and  very  expensive.  In  a  letter  to  the  firm  Nicolet  and 
Jeanjaquet,  dated  2d  July,  1842,  Agassiz  says:  "Vous 
etes  parfaitement  libres  de  faire  ce  qu'il  vous  plalra  a 
l'egard  de  vos  employes;  deja  trop  souvent  j'ai  fait 
faire  des  travaux  considerables  uniquement  pouroccuper 
vos  employes,  travaux  qui  me  sont  restes  des  mois  et 
des  mois  inutilement  sur  les  bras.  J'ai  fait  tirer  de 
fortes  editions  d'ouvrages  divers,  dont  je  n'ai  que  pen 
d'exemplaires  places,  pour  vous  accommoder.  .  .  .  J'ai 
l'honneur  de  vous  prevenir  que  je  desire  savoir  si  je 
puis  compter  sur  les  travaux  dont  je  vous  ai  parte  lors 
de  ma  derniere  visite  aux  Sablons,  parce  que  sans  cela 
j'ai  reellement  l'intention  de  les  faire  faire  ailleurs,  car 
je  suis  sur  d'avance  qu'ils  me  couteront  beaucoup 
moins."  We  have  here  Agassiz's  own  confession  that 
he  undertook  some  works,  solely  to  give  occupation  to 
the  too  expensive  lithographic  establishments  of  the 
Sablons,  —  an  unbusiness-like  proceeding,  which  was 
certain  to  hasten  the  catastrophe  which  occurred,  in 
February,  1845,  after  a  struggle  of  more  than  a  year 
and  a  half,  when  the  whole  establishment  was  broken 
up  and  disposed  of  by  auction. 

Joseph  Dinkel,  the  trusted  and  true  friend  of 
his  constant  companion  since  they  were  students  together 
at  Munich,  left  him  to  go  to  England  to  find  work  and 
make  a  home  for  himself.  He  disapproved  the  leader- 
ship of  Desor,  and  foresaw  very  stormy  times  for  his 
good  friend  Agassiz;  and  he  prophesied  to  an  art 
friend,  who  repeated  it  to  me  a  few  years  after,  that 
Agassiz  would  not  always  submit  to  such  a  dictatorship 


238  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  ix. 

as  Desor  had  assumed,  and  that  it  would  end  in  terrible 
strife.  Dinkel  clearly  saw  the  game  Desor  was  playing. 
From  the  first  he  did  not  like  him,  and  it  was  very  pain- 
ful to  him  to  see  Agassiz  fall  into  such  hands.  He  left 
Neuchatel,  with  regret,  in  the  spring  of  1844,  and  many 
years  after  acknowledged  "that  for  a  long  time  he  felt 
unhappy  at  the  separation."  In  most  graphic  terms  he 
described  Agassiz,  who,  he  says,  "  was  a  kind,  noble- 
hearted  friend ;  he  was  very  benevolent,  and  if  he  had 
possessed  millions  of  money,  he  would  have  spent  them 
upon  his  researches  in  science,  and  have  done  good  to  his 
fellow-creatures  as  much  as  possible."  :  Every  word  is 
true,  and  is  a  noble  tribute  from  one  who  knew  Agassiz 
most  intimately  during  the  time  of  life  when  faults  of 
character  are  most  conspicuous,  and  are  easily  discov- 
ered in  the  intimacy  of  friendship. 

Still  another  misfortune  befell  Agassiz  at  the  close  of 
the  year  1844.  Gressly,  who  usually  returned  to  the 
laboratory  in  Neuchatel  at  the  beginning  of  the  winter, 
did  not  come  back ;  and  it  was  only  after  weeks  had 
passed  without  any  tidings  of  him,  that  it  was  learned 
that  the  poor  fellow  was  suffering  under  an  attack  of 
religious  insanity,  and  had  been  placed  in  an  asylum. 

1  "  Louis  Agassiz,"  by  Mrs.  E.  C.  Agassiz.  Vol.  I.,  p.  142. 


CHAPTER   X. 

"MONOGRAPHIE   DES   MYES,"    1842-1845 — THE   "  NOMENCLATOR   Zooi.O- 
GICUS,"     1842-1845 — "BlBLIOGRAPHIA     ZOOLOGLE     ET    GeOLOGI.1." — 

"  iconographie  des  coquilles  tertiaires  repctees  identiques 
avec  les  especes  vlvantes,"  etc. — the  two  translations  of 
Sowerby's  "Mineral  Conchology  of  Great  Britain"  —  Actual 
Mercantile  Value  of  Agassiz's  Publications  —  Agassiz's  Family 
come  to  his  Help  —  Great  Credit  Due  to  Neuchatel  and  its 
Inhabitants  —  Agassiz's  Last  Series  of  Lectures:  "Notice 

LA  GEOGRAPHIE  DES  ANIMAUX  "  —  INTIMATE  FRIENDSHIP  Willi   Jl 

plctet  de  la  rlye  —  agassiz's  last  vlsit  to  the  aar  ( '.lacier  — 
The  Meeting  of  the  Helvetic  Society  of  Natural  Sciences  at 
Geneva,  August,  1845  — A  Letter  to  Pictet,  with  Biographical 
Remarks  —  Biography  of  Agassiz  by  Pictet  —  Agassiz  R] 
all  the  Specimens  borrowed  for  his  Great  Paijeontological 
Works. 

The  year  1845  was  spent  mainly  in  finishing  the 
publication  of  works  more  or  less  advanced,  and  in 
making  a  sort  of  scientific  "  liquidation,"  or  clearing  up. 
The  "  Monographic  des  Myes,"  a  quarto  volume,  with 
an  atlas  of  ninety-four  well-executed  plates,  begun  in 
1842,  an  excellent  and  very  useful  work,  containing  a 
number  of  new,  well-defined  genera,  and  which  h 
since  been  used  constantly  in  conchology,  was  com- 
pleted.    Alcide  d'Orbigny  criticised  several  of  the  new 

239 


240  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  x. 

genera,  but  Agassiz  answered  him  successfully  in  his 
"  Introduction,"  maintaining  the  value  of  such  genera 
as  GoniomycLy  Ceromya,  Arc  o  my  a,  Mactromya,  Plearomya, 
G  res  sly  a,  Cardiuia,  etc.,  and  in  a  letter  to  Pictet,  dated 
Aug.  15,  1845,  he  says:  "  Je  crois  que  vous  avez 
accorde  un  peu  trop  d'importance  aux  critiques  que 
d'Orbigny  a  faites  de  quelques  uns  de  mes  genres  des 
Myacees.  Dans  ma  4^me  livraison  j'ai  refute  ce  qui 
me  paraissait  exagere ;  il  y  a  des  remarques  justes, 
mais  il  y  en  a  quelques  unes  qui  sont  completement 
erronees." 

The  manuscript  of  another  work  of  great  impor- 
tance, of  which  the  first  part  was  issued  in  1842,  the 
"  Nomenclator  Zoologicus,"  was  pushed  forward  with 
that  strong  will  which  was  now  and  then  characteristic 
of  Agassiz.  As  he  says,  the  work  embraces  the  sources 
of  critical  zoology :  "  C'est  un  travail  de  patience  qui 
a  exige  des  recherches  bien  longues  et  bien  penibles. 
J 'en  avais  con^u  le  plan  des  les  premieres  annees  de 
mes  etudes  et  des  lors  je  n'ai  jamais  perdu  de  vue  ce 
projet.  J'ose  croire  que  ce  sera  une  digue  contre  la  con- 
fusion babylonique  qui  tend  a  envahir  le  domaine  de  la 
synonymie  en  Zoologie  "  (Letter  to  M.  de  Chambrier, 
President  of  the  State  Council  of  Neuchatel,  April, 
1842). 

The  publication,  which  is  in  Latin,  is  a  large  quarto, 
issued  in  eleven  fasciculi ;  the  last  one,  which  treats  of 
the  Colcoptcra,  having  been  published  at  Soloduri,  in 
1846;  while  the  "  Prefatio  indicis  universalis"  is  dated 
Neocomi,  Mense,  Decembri,  1845.  The  "  Index"  alone 
comprises  393  quarto  pages ;  a  duodecimo  edition  was 


i845-]  NOMENCLATOR  ZOOLOGICUS. 

also  issued  at  the  same  time.  The  general  "  Prefal 
at  the  beginning  of  the  work  was  written  entirely  by 
Agassiz.  It  occupies  forty-two  pages,  rendering  justice 
to  all  his  collaborators,  who  included  Prince  Charles 
Lucien  Bonaparte,  H.  Burmeister,  Dumeril,  G.  R.  Gray, 
Herman  von  Meyer,  Milne-Edwards,  Strickland,  Charles 
Des  Moulins,  etc.  This  "  Prefatio  '  is  dated  Neocomi 
Helvetorum,  Febr.,  1846,  only  a  few  days  before 
Agassiz  left  Neuchatel  for  his  journey  to  America. 
To  give  an  idea  of  the  great  labour  expended  in  carry- 
ing the  work  to  completion,  it  will  suffice  to  say  that 
it  contains  thirty-one  thousand  names  of  genera  and 
families  alone,  with  bibliographical  quotations  number- 
ing thirty-four  thousand  titles  of  works  or  papers  on 
natural  history.  In  all,  the  number  of  quotations  is 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 

Agassiz  had  collected  for  his  own  private  use  a 
catalogue  of  all  known  works  and  detailed  memoirs  on 
zoology  and  geology;  and,  before  leaving  Europe,  he 
made  an  arrangement  with  the  "Ray  Society,"  of 
London,  to  publish  it.  Professor  H.  E.  Strickland,  the 
successor  of  Buckland  at  the  Oxford  University,  \\ 
requested  to  act  as  editor;  but,  unhappily,  Strickland 
was  accidentally  killed,  in  September,  [853,  while  geol- 
ogizing on  the  track  of  the  Great  Northern  Railway, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Clanborough  Tunnel,  near  East 
Retford,  before  he  had  finished  the  publication  of  the 
" Bibliographia  Zoologize  et  Geologiae,"  based  on  A 
siz's  manuscripts;  and  Sir  William  Jardine,  the  eminent 
naturalist,  and  father-in-law  of  the  lamented  Strickland. 
completed  the  editing  of  the  remaining  volumes  oi   the 

K 


242  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  x. 

work,  which  is  composed  of  four  octavo  volumes,  con- 
taining the  literature  of  zoology  and  geology  until  1846  ; 
a  most  useful  publication,  dated  London,  1 848-1 854. 

In  1845  another  memoir  on  fossil  conchology  was 
published  by  Agassiz,  under  the  title :  "  Iconographie 
des  coquilles  tertiaires  reputees  identiques  avec  les 
especes  vivantes  ou  dans  differents  terrains  de  l'epoque 
tertiaires,  accompagnee  de  la  description  des  especes 
nouvelles,"  in  "  Nouveaux  Memoires  de  la  Societe  Helve- 
tique  des  Sciences  Naturelles,"  Vol.  VII.  It  is,  perhaps, 
the  most  objectionable  paper  he  ever  produced.  Start- 
ing from  a  preconceived  idea  that  not  a  single  animal 
survived  a  geological  epoch,  and  that  no  species  passed 
from  one  formation  to  another,  with  his  great  faculty 
for  differentiating  specimens,  he  easily  pointed  out  a 
certain  number  of  cases  of  Lucina,  Venus  y  Cytherca, 
Cyprina,  and  other  acephales,  which  showed  variations, 
and  which,  according  to  his  views,  demonstrated  that 
the  species,  instead  of  being  identical,  were  only  analo- 
gous. Deshayes  and  other  conchologists  did  not  accept 
Agassiz's  view,  and,  in  fact,  later  knowledge  has  greatly 
added  to  the  number  of  species  which  pass  from  one 
formation  to  another,  not  only  for  the  tertiary  epochs, 
but  also  for  the  Mesozoic  and  the  Paleozoic  forma- 
tions. The  complete  destruction  of  faunas  and  creation 
of  new  and  entirely  different  ones,  without  the  survival 
of  a  single  species,  can  no  longer  be  defended ;  more 
especially  in  its  application  to  marine  animals.  As 
usual,  the  memoir  of  Agassiz  is  beautifully  illustrated 
with  fourteen  plates,  representing  with  great  care  all 
the  details  of  the  shells. 


I845-]        TWO   TRANSLATIONS  OF  SOWERBY. 

During  1845  the  last  parts  of  the  two  translations  in 
French  and  in  German  of  Sowerby's  "  Mineral  Conchol- 
ogy  of  Great  Britain"  were  distributed  to  the  few  sub- 
scribers. The  French  edition,  a  large  volume  with  an 
atlas  of  395  coloured  plates,  is  entitled,  "Conchologie 
{sic)  Mineralogique  de  la  Grande  Bretagne,"  par  James 
Sowerby,  "traduction  franchise  revue,  corrigee  et  an 
ment.ee  par  L.  Agassiz."  The  German  edition  entitled, 
"  James  Sowerby's  Mineral-Conchologic  Grossbritan- 
niens,  etc.,  Deutsch  bearbeitet  von  Ed.  Desor.  Durch- 
gesehen  und  mit  Anmerkungen  und  Berichtigungen 
versehen  von  Dr.  L.  Agassiz,"  is  also  composed  of  a 
large  volume,  with  the  same  atlas  of  395  coloured 
plates.  Although  the  price  was  considerably  lower 
than  that  of  the  original  English  edition,  the  two  trans- 
lations did  not  sell  well ;  especially  the  French  edi- 
tion, which  was  and  has  remained  almost  absolutely 
unknown.  The  undertaking  was  a  great  mistake  in 
every  way,  and  both  works  have  remained  a  drug  in 
the  market. 

Generally,  as  years  pass,  or  after  the  death  of  an 
author,  some  of  his  publications  become  rare  and 
valuable,  and  command  a  higher  price  than  was  asked 
at  the  time  of  their  issue.  With  Agassiz's  publications, 
however,  this  is  not  the  case;  not  a  single  one  of  his 
European  works  is  now  quoted  above,  or  even  at,  its 
price  of  publication.  All  are  discounted  with  a  fair 
reduction  from  the  original  price,  and  can  be  obtained 
easily  of  any  bookseller  in  Europe.  The  same  thing 
has  happened  also  in  the  ease  of  all  his  publications  in 
America,  with  the  single  exception   <>|"  his  volume   on 


244  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  x. 

"  Lake  Superior,"  the  value  of  which  has  risen  to  two 
and  even  three  times  the  price  asked  by  the  publisher, 
when  it  came  out  in  1850,  and  it  is  now  difficult  to  pro- 
cure a  copy.  The  explanation  of  this  in  the  case  of 
some  of  Agassiz's  works,  which  are  really  of  great 
scientific  value,  is,  that  in  their  desire  to  help  him,  many 
persons  were  ready  to  pay  any  price  asked,  and  conse- 
quently almost  all  his  publications  were  issued  at  rather 
high  prices ;  while  others  of  his  publications,  although 
they  were  expensive,  were  either  not  really  needed,  like 
the  translations  of  Buckland's  and  Sowerby's  works,  or 
were  limited  to  a  too  small  circle  of  naturalists  to  secure 
a  large  sale. 

Better  management  would  have  prevented  Agassiz 
from  running  into  debt  on  account  of  his  numerous 
publications.  At  the  same  time  that  he  was  issuing  his 
works  with  such  losses,  works  of  the  same  sort  were 
published  in  France,  not  only  without  loss,  but  even 
with  profit  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  undertaking. 
I  refer  to  the  great  work  of  Deshayes,  "  Description 
des  Coquilles  fossiles  des  Environs  de  Paris,"  and 
more  especially  the  "  Paleontologie  francaise,"  by  Alcide 
d'Orbigny.  Agassiz  differed  from  them,  also,  in  his 
method  of  working,  and  in  his  domestic  arrangements, 
for  both  Deshayes  and  d'Orbigny  worked  alone,  without 
assistants  of  any  sort,  except  their  artists ;  and  their 
establishments  at  Paris  were  extremely  modest,  and 
limited  to  what  was  strictly  necessary. 

In  1845  the  pecuniary  position  of  Agassiz  became 
very  serious,  and  his  family  were  obliged  to  come  to  his 
assistance,  which  they  did  with  great  generosity.     All 


i845-]  CREDIT  DUE    TO   NEUCHATEL. 

his  numerous  and  bulky  publications  were  put  into  the 
hands  of  the  rich  firm  of  Jent  and  Gassmann,  bookselle 

and  publishers  at  Solothurn;  securities  were  given  to  his 
creditors,  and  everything  was  most  honourably  arranged 
to  relieve  him  from  his  immediate  distressing  position. 

If,  however,  his  Neuchatel  establishment  was  a  fail- 
ure pecuniarily,  scientifically  it  was  a  success  unique 
in  natural  history.  The  result  of  his  fourteen  years' 
residence  at  Neuchatel  was  the  publication  of  more 
than  twenty  volumes,  with  two  thousand  folio  or  oc- 
tavo plates,  and  many  separate  papers  ;  all  were  well 
written,  beautifully  printed,  and  profusely  illustrated 
with  most  exact  drawings  —  a  record  so  creditable  that 
it  gave  a  just  celebrity,  not  only  to  Agassiz,  but  also  to 
Neuchatel,  at  that  time  a  small  town  of  less  than  six 
thousand  inhabitants.  The  "  Neuchatelois  '  may  well 
be  proud  of  such  a  performance  ;  their  great  liberality 
toward  science,  and  their  appreciation  of  the  rare  value 
of  Agassiz,  made  it  possible  for  him  to  prosecute  with 
unimpaired  vigour  his  remarkable  scientific  researches 
famed  the  world  over. 

That  Agassiz  thought  that  he  was  acting  wisely  in 
receiving  Vogt  and  Desor  at  his  table  as  regular  board- 
ers, and  giving  a  room  in  his  apartment  to  Desor,  there 
is  no  doubt.  But,  in  the  long  run,  the  scheme  pro. 
expensive,  and  most  harassing  to  his  wife.  Little  by 
little,  the  characters  of  both  Vogt  and  Desor  came 
out;  jokes  of  doubtful  politeness  were  indulged  in; 
remarks  rather  satirical,  cynical,  and  anti-religious  were 
not  rare.  Vogt,  more  especially,  never  missed  an  oppor- 
tunity to  make  a   " bon  mot'    at  the  expense  oi    the 


246  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  x. 

Bible,  turning  into  ridicule  all  religious  beliefs  and 
practices.  Mrs.  Agassiz,  being  a  religious  woman  and 
bred  in  a  totally  different  atmosphere  in  her  own  home 
at  Carlsruhe,  was  very  sensitive  to  these  sarcasms. 
Finally  expenses  and  difficulties  reached  such  a  climax 
that  a  crisis  became  inevitable.  Mrs.  Agassiz's  health 
was  poor;  and  the  announcement,  by  newspaper,  all 
over  Germany,  of  a  royal  gift  by  the  king  of  Prussia  to 
allow  Agassiz  to  make  a  journey  to  America,  was 
hailed  as  a  proper  moment  to  join  her  own  family  at 
Carlsruhe. 

In  a  letter,  dated  Carlsruhe,  16th  of  March,  1845,  her 
devoted  brother,  Alexander  Braun,  wrote  that  all  was 
ready  at  his  home  to  receive  her.  (Alexander  Braun's 
"  Leben,"  pp.  378,  379.)  Taking  her  children  with  her, 
first  on  a  visit  to  the  excellent  mother  of  Agassiz  at 
Cudrefm,  at  the  old  Dr.  Mayor's  house,  Mrs.  Agassiz 
then  left  Neuchatel  early  in  May.  It  is  the  most  pain- 
ful incident  in  the  life  of  the  great  naturalist.  That 
misunderstandings  and  difficulties  developed  mainly  by 
extravagance  in  the  interest  of  natural  history  should 
have  had  such  a  final  result,  is  most  pitiable  and  to  be 
regretted.  These  explanations  are  not  meant  to  excuse 
the  faults  committed  by  Agassiz  at  this  time  of  his  life ; 
they  show,  however,  how  he  fell  into  errors,  and  how 
he  might  easily  have  avoided  them.  They  have  been 
rendered  necessary  by  what  has  been  said,  rather 
bitterly,  by  the  biographer  of  Desor  ("  Edward  Desor : 
Lebensbild  eines  Naturforschers,"  von  Karl  Vogt, 
Breslau,  1882). 


i845-]      HIS  LAST  LECTURE  .11    NEUCHATEL.  247 

In  the  spring  of  1845,  Agassiz  delivered  his  last  pub- 
lic course  of  twelve  lectures  on  the  "  Plan  de  la  Creation.'' 
showing  the  successive  development  of  organized  bein§ 
It  was  followed  with  more  attention  and  by  a  more  numer- 
ous audience  than  any  of  his  previous  annual  series  o! 
lectures.  The  news  that  he  was  to  undertake  a  journey 
to  the  New  World  under  the  auspices,  and  with  the  help 
of  the  king  of  Prussia  and  prince  of  Neuchatel,  who  con- 
tributed from  his  private  purse  three  thousand  dollars, 
caused  a  surprise  mingled  with  fear  that  he  would  prob- 
ably never  return  to  resume  his  position  at  Neuchatel. 
Everybody  in  Neuchatel  highly  appreciated,  not  only  the 
great  savant  who  was  truly  the  founder  of  the  Academy, 
—  which,  but  for  him,  would  not  have  been  established 
for  years, — but  also  the  friend  and  charmer  so  highly 
esteemed  and  beloved,  and  went  anxiously  to  hear  him 
once  more;  anticipating,  with  good  reason,  that  this 
last  course  might  be  regarded  as  his  scientific  testa- 
ment. 

Agassiz  took  care  to  dictate  his  last  lecture,  and  pub- 
lished it  in  the  first  number  of   the   "  Revue    Suis 
just  transferred  from  Lausanne  to  Neuchatel,  in  Augu 
1845.     The  title  of  the  lecture  is:  ''Notice  sur  la  G< 
graphie  des  Animaux,  par  L.  Agassiz";    and   it   begins 
with   the    following  sentence:    "All  organized   beings, 
plants    as   well   as   animals,   are    confined   to   a    special 
area  [or,  as  he  calls  it,  "out  une  patrie  '  ].     Man  alone 
is  spread  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth."     Strange 
to  say,  one  of  his  first  impressions,  alter  studying  the 
different  races  of  man  he  met  with  in  America,  led  him 
to  reverse  this  opinion,  and  a   tew  years   later   he   pub- 


243  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  x. 

lished  his  remarkable  and  scientifically  very  frank 
paper,  ''Sketch  of  the  Natural  Provinces  of  the  Ani- 
mal World  and  their  Relation  to  the  Different  Types 
of  Alan,"  Cambridge,  1853.  Agassiz  was  too  good  a 
naturalist,  too  much  accustomed  to  differentiate  ani- 
mals, to  accept  unity  in  the  genus  Homo,  and  when 
converted  to  the  views  of  Dr.  Samuel  Morton  of  Phila- 
delphia on  the  different  types  and  diversity  of  man,  he 
frankly  proclaimed  his  change  of  opinion  to  the  scien- 
tific world,  with  the  same  earnestness  with  which  eight 
years  previously  he  maintained  the  old  creed  of  a  unique 
species ;  and  when,  a  few  years  later,  he  heard  of  the 
discoveries  of  the  fossil  man  of  the  Quaternary  epoch, 
he  accepted  it  at  once,  delighted  to  learn  that  a  man 
was  in  existence  and  saw  the  great  glaciers,  of  which  he 
was  the  first  to  conceive  the  existence  before  the  present 
epoch. 

I  may  add  a  personal  reminiscence  of  the  first  time 
I  saw  Agassiz,  when  I  presented  to  him  a  letter  of 
introduction  from  his  friend  Jules  Thurmann.  He  had 
close  by  him  on  his  desk  a  pile  of  copies  of  this  notice 
on  the  geography  of  animals,  and  taking  one,  he  wrote 
my  name  on  the  cover,  and  offered  it  to  me.  I  have 
ever  kept  that  first  gift  of  Agassiz  —  followed  by  many 
others,  for  he  always  from  that  time  gave  me  all  his 
publications  —  as  a  souvenir  of  one  of  the  most  fasci- 
nating men  I  have  met  in  my  life ;  for  such  was  the 
impression  he  made  on  me ;  an  impression  which  has 
remained  unimpaired,  and  indeed  constantly  deepened, 
until  the  last  day  of  his  life. 

During  1845,  the  friendship  which  had  existed  for  at 


I845-]  INTIMACY   WITH  PICTET.  249 

least  twelve  years  with  Jules  Pictet  de  la  Rive  oi  (  jcik  . 
became  intimacy,  and  remained  so  until  the  end.  These 
two  savants  had  many  similar  qualities,  and  it  is  not 
surprising  that  when  they  met  they  became  the  best  oi 
friends.  For  Pictet  life  was  never  difficult.  Son  of  an 
old  and  wealthy  family,  he  married  early  the  grand- 
daughter of  the  celebrated  Madame  Necker-de-Saus- 
sure,  and  became  one  of  the  richest  men  of  Geneva  ; 
while,  on  the  contrary,  Agassiz  had  to  struggle  all  his 
life  against  poverty.  However,  both  of  them  spent 
largely  for  science,  and  were  never  so  happy  as  when 
they  were  able  to  secure  at  any  price  rare  and  well- 
preserved  natural  history  specimens.  Although  rich, 
Pictet  always  worked  very  hard,  being  second  only  to 
Agassiz  in  this  respect,  and  not  far  behind  him.  He 
conceived  and  published  the  first  manual  of  palaeontol- 
ogy in  four  volumes ;  and  the  first  copy  was  sent  to 
Agassiz,  who  wrote  at  once  a  review  of  it  for  the 
"  Bibliotheque  Universelle."  The  following  is  a  letter 
from  Agassiz  on  the  subject:  — 

NEUCHATEL,  7  Mai.   1S45. 

F.  J.  Pictet, 
Geneve. 

Mon  cher  ami,  —  Cest  a  vous  plutot  qu'a  Monsieur  de  la   Rive 
que  fadresse  l'analyse  que  je  viens  de  faire  de  votre  ouvrage  ( "  Traite* 
elementaire  de  Paleontologie'1).    Vous  voyez  que  i*ai  tenu  part 
de  ne  prendre  que  le  temps  mate'riellement  ne'eessaire  ."1  sa  lecture 
pour  la  rediger.     Aussi  ma  notice  doit  se  ressentir  de  cette  precipi- 
tation, et  e'est  ce  qui  m'a  fait  decider  de  vous  la  soumettre  d'abord. 
Corrigez  et  changez  ce  que  vous  voudrez,  je  n'ai  pas  I'esprit 
repose  pour  avoir  pu  faire  quelque  chose  de  complet,  quoique  j 
lu  votre  beau  livre  bien  attentivement.     Je  ne  doute  pas  que  1 


250  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  x. 

ouvrage  n'ait  un  grand  succes,  et  je  vous  engagerais  fort  a  en  pro- 
voquer  la  traduction  en  anglais  et  en  allemand. 

J'aurais  eu  un  chapitre  a  ecrire  sur  la  nature  des  progres  orga- 
niques,  realises  dans  la  serie  des  terrains,  mais  cela  m'aurait  entraine 
a  m'ecarter  trop  de  votre  ouvrage,  et  e'est  ce  que  je  n'ai  pas  voulu 
faire. 

Vous  seriez  bien  aimable  de  venir  me  voir  bientot ;  quant  a  moi 
je  doute  de  pouvoir  aller  encore  une  fois  a  Geneve ;  je  suis  accable 
de  travail.  Mais  proposez  cette  course  a  Favre  et  venez  bientot; 
ce  serait  un  grand  bonheur  pour  moi  de  vous  revoir  avant  mon 
depart  qui  est  fixe'  a  la  fin  de  Juin.  [He  did  not  leave,  however, 
until  ten  months  later.] 

Je  vous  enverrai  sous  pen  un  long  memoire  sur  la  question  des 
Coquilles  Tertiaires  reputees  identiques  avec  les  vivantes,  que  je 
viens  de  faire  imprimer. 

Mille  amities  a  M.  de  la  Rive.  J'ai  d'excellentes  nouvelles  de 
Vogt,  qui  travaille  comme  un  forcene  a  Paris,  je  lui  ferai  parvenir 
l'exemplaire  du  Traite  (de  Paleontologie)  que  vous  lui  destinez  et 
qu'il  na  surement  pas  davantage  que  moi. 

Votre  tout  devoue, 

Ls.  Agassiz. 

Dites  moi  si  vous  me  pardonnez  mes  critiques. 

A  last  visit  to  the  glacier  of  the  Aar,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  August,  1845,  was  made  in  order  to  transfer 
all  the  observations  to  Daniel  Dollfus-Ausset,  who  had 
generously  offered  to  continue  them  at  his  own  expense, 
and  who  did  so  with  great  perseverance,  during  sixteen 
years,  until  1861.  (See  "Glaciers  en  activite,"  in  "Ma- 
teriaux  pour  1' Etude  des  Glaciers,"  par  Dollfus-Ausset, 
Vol.  V.,  Paris,  1870.) 

As  soon  as  Agassiz  returned  to  Neuchatel,  he  again 
left  to  attend  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Helvetian 
Society  of  Natural  Sciences,  held  at  Geneva  the  nth, 
1 2th,  and  13th  of  August,  1845.     There,  although  only 


1 845.]  MEET/NG  AT  GENEVA. 

a  middle-aged  man,  he  seemed  like  the  leader  of  the 
meeting.  He  spoke  first,  at  the  general  session,  on  the 
structure  of  the  fins  of  fishes;  and  then,  at  the  special 
sections  of  physics,  he  gave  an  account  of  his  research 
during  the  last  three  years  on  the  glacier  of  the  Aar, 
dealing  more  especially  with  the  motion  of  the  glacier, 
its  structure,  the  ablation  of  the  surface,  the  meteorol- 
ogy, etc.  Discussion  followed,  in  which  Jean  de  Char- 
pentier,  the  founder  of  the  glacial  theory,  and  Venetz, 
son  of  the  first  promoter  and  discoverer  of  the  existence 
of  ancient  and  immense  glaciers  in  the  Rhone  valley, 
took  part  and  gave  new  proofs  of  the  great  value  now- 
attached  to  their  first  observations.  Leopold  von  Buch, 
present  at  the  meeting,  did  not  approve  all  that  he 
heard  respecting  glaciers,  and  left,  rather  indignant  at 
the  evidence  of  the  great  progress  made;  for  at  this  time, 
all  the  Geneva  naturalists,  with  the  exception  of  Jean 
Andre  de  Luc,  then  an  octogenarian,  were  converted 
to  the  new  theory.  Arriving  at  Zurich  a  few  days 
after  the  meeting  was  over,  von  Buch  called  on  Arnold 
Escher  von  der  Linth,  as  he  was  accustomed  to  do 
almost  annually,  and  begged  Escher  to  take  him  on  an 
excursion  among  the  Alps  of  the  Primitive  Cantons  oi 
Switzerland,  making  the  one  condition,  however,  that 
Escher  would  not  once  speak  of  anything  relating  to 
glaciers  and  glacial  action.  Escher,  who  respected  and 
loved  von  Buch,  as  the  best  friend  of  his  deceased 
father,  promised,  and  kept  his  word,  notwithstanding 
that  he  was  himself  one  of  the  best  and  first-converted 
glacialists,  and  that  at  every  step  he  found  most  unde- 
niable proofs  of  the  great  extension  of  glaciers.      A  tew 


252  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  x. 

years  later,  Escher  told  me  that  it  required  the  greatest 
self-control  he  was  ever  able  to  exercise ;  and  that 
nothing  could  induce  him  to  attempt  it  again. 

But  to  return  to  the  Geneva  meeting :  Agassiz  made 
a  third  communication  on  the  brain  of  fishes,  and  noted 
the  existence  of  a  very  large  pot-hole  ("  Marmite  des 
Geants")  above  the  Handeck  Fall  in  the  Bernese  Alps. 
At  the  great  dinner,  given  to  the  Helvetian  Society  at 
the  "  Hotel  de  la  Navigation,"  Agassiz  was  toasted, 
with  the  following  remarks  :  "  To  the  learned  and  ami- 
able professor  of  Neuchatel,  M.  Agassiz,  who  is  on  the 
point  of  undertaking  a  far-distant  journey,  where  our 
sympathies  will  follow  him,"  etc. 

The  impression  made  on  Agassiz  was  very  strong,  as 
shown  by  the  letter  he  immediately  wrote  to  Pictet :  — 

Neuchatel,  le  16  Aoftt,  1845. 
Jules  Pictet, 

Geneve. 

Mon  cher  ami,  —  Je  ne  veux  pas  tarder  a.  vous  envoyer  Miller 
("The  Old  Red  Sandstone"),  afin  que  vous  le  receviez  avant  votre 
depart  pour  Naples.     Renvoyez  moi  le  des  que  vous  le  pourrez. 

Je  suis  rentre*  chez  moi  hier,  comrae  je  me  l'etais  propose,  et  j?ai 
trouve  ma  mere  qui  m'attendait  deja  depuis  la  veille ;  vous  voyez 
que  c'eut  ete  tres  mal  de  ma  part  de  prolonger  mon  sejour  a. 
Geneve.  II  fallait  vraiment  un  pareil  motif  pour  me  donner  la  force 
de  me  separer  de  vous.  Cette  reunion  a  laisse  dans  mon  cceur  des 
souvenirs  ineffacables ;  veuillez  repeter  encore  a  tous  nos  amis 
communs,  et  en  particulier  a  M.  de  la  Rive,  a  Favre,  a  M.  Marcet, 
combien  j'ai  ete  touche  de  leur  accueil  amical  et  de  toutes  les 
marques  d'amitie  qu'ils  m'ont  donnees. 

J'ai  deja  parcouru  quelques  feuilles  de  votre  troisieme  volume 
(  Traite  de  Paleontologie)  ;  plus  j'apprends  a  connaitre  votre  livre, 
et  plus  je  suis  convaincu  qull  aura  un  grand  succes.   ...     A  propos, 


1 845-]  1U0GRAPHICAI.   REMARKS.  253 

j'ai  oublie  de  vous  demander  si  vous  avez  donne*  suite  a  la  demande 
qui  vous  a  etc  faite  de  rcdiger  une  notice  biographique  sur  mon 

compte,  dans  la  Revue  Roman dc  ou  je  ne  sais  quel   autre   recueil. 
Si  cela  est,  dites-moi  ou  je  la  trouverai. 

Votre  tout  devnue, 

Ls.  Agassiz. 

The  biography  by  Pictct,  with  an  excellent  portrait 
of  Agassiz,  was  communicated  in  manuscript  to  Agassiz, 
who,  in  returning  it,  wrote  in  the  following  terms  :  — 

Neuchatel,  25  AoQt,  1S45. 
Jules  Pictet, 

Geneve. 

Remarques  : 

Verso  de  page  1.  —  "Cette  correction,  etc.11;  a  effacer,  on  pour- 
rait  croire  que  mon  pere  m'avait  a  demi  assomme,1  et  personne 
n7etait  moins  severe  que  lui. 

Page  2.  —  "  d'eau  douce"  ;  ajoutez  :  pour  lequel  il  recueillit  d'im- 
portants  materiaux  dans  le  Rhin  et  dans  le  Necker.  cju'il  put  com- 
parer plus  tard  avec  ceux  du  Danube  et  de  I'Is&re,  pendant  son 
sejour  a.  Munich  et  a.  Vienne. 

Verso  de  page  2.  —  Ajoutez  au  bas  de  la  page  :  Ce  gout  pour  1" 
servation  fut  encore  augmente  par  les  nombreux  voyages  qifil  tit 
dans  le  midi  de  PAllemagne,  et  en  particulier  dans  les  .  du 

Tyrol,  ou  il  se  familiarisa  avec  Tetude  des  plantes,  sous  la  direction 
d'un  de  ses  condisciples,  M.  Alex.  Braun,  devenu  depuis  botanu 
distingue.     Ces  connaissances  lui  furent  plus  tard  d'une  imnie: 
utilite  pour  Tetude  des  plantes  fossiles. 

Page  4.  —  "Vogt.11  La  large  part  que  j'ai  faite  a  Vogl  dans  la 
publication  de  Tembryologie  des  Salmones,  que  nous  avons  poursui- 
vie  pendant  toute  une  saison  en  commun,  et  que  je  l*ai  cl  lus 

tard  de  terminer,  tandis  que  j'aurais  etc  pleincmcnt  en  droit  ('; 

1  Here  is  the  corrected  sentence:  "II  (Agassiz)  ra  lui-mftme 

l'amour  de  la  peche  l'entratnait  quelquefois  trop  loin,  et  que  1  puni- 

tion  qu'il  recut  jamais  de  son  pere  lui  fut  inflige  parce  qu'il  s'etait  Iropru- 

demment  embarque  dans  un  petit  bateau  pour  la  peche  du  bi 


254  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  x. 

ces  antecedents  de  les  publier  sous  nos  noms  reunis,  ne  doit  pas 
etre  un  motif  pour  m'exclure  de  toute  participation  a  ce  travail ; 
ainsi  modifiez  legerement  cet  article,  d'apres  la  preface  de  Touvrage 
redigee  par  Vogt  lui-meme. 

Page  9.  —  Vous  citez  ici  pour  la  deuxieme  fois  Touvrage  de  Char- 
pentier  et  vous  ne  mentionnez  pas  meme  le  mien  qui  etait  deja, 
lorsqiril  parut  en  1840,  appuye  sur  plus  de  faits  que  ceux  que  decrit 
Charpentier.  J'y  donne  deja  des  chiffres,  et  les  premieres  planches 
que  Ton  ait  possedees  sur  les  glaciers,  faites  en  vue  de  faire  con- 
naitre  leur  structure,  la  disposition  des  moraines,  Taction  des  glaciers 
sur  le  sol,  les  roches  polies,  etc.,  etc. 

Ce  fut  deja  en  1840  que  j'allai  visiter  PEcosse  pour  y  chercher 
des  traces  de  glaciers  et  que  je  demontrai  leur  presence  dans  une 
foule  de  ces  belles  vallees,  tant  d'apres  Tarrangement  des  moraines 
qui  les  traversent,  que  d'apres  la  nature  des  polis  de  leurs  parois 
rocheuses  et  des  galets  de  leur  fond.  Jeles  observai  aussi  en  Irlande, 
en  Angleterre  dans  la  region  des  lacs,  et  plus  tard  dans  la  Foret 
Noire.  Et  e'est  a.  ces  observations  qifest  du  Finteret  general  qu'a 
pris  la  question  des  glaciers. 

Derniere  page.  —  Ajoutez  :  Sous  les  auspices  et  aux  frais  du  Roi 
de  Prusse,  auquel  j*ai  du  de  flatteuses  distinctions,  ou  quelque  chose 
d'analogue  ;  ce  sera  utile  pour  l'avenir.1 

Voila  bien  des  observations,  mon  cher  ami,  mais  vous  les  intro- 
duirez  encore  plus  brievement  dans  votre  notice  qui  me  fait  grand 
plaisir,  et  pour  laquelle  je  vous  remercie  vivement.  Si  j'ai  fait  une 
petite  note  pour  les  Etudes  sjtr  les  glaciers,  e'est  que  j'ai  le  senti- 
ment qua  Tegard  de  ce  livre,  on  n'a  pas  ete  juste  a  mon  egard  et 
que  de  toutes  parts  on  lui  a  jete  la  pierre  contre ;  les  uns  disent  que 
j'en  avais  emprunte  le  contenu  a  M.  de  Charpentier  que  je  n'avais 
pas  pourtant  visite  qu"en  1836,  tandis  que  mon  ouvrage  est  de  1840, 
et  est  le  resultat  de  mes  courses  et  de  mes  observations  propres ;  de 
la  la  divergence  sur  tant  de  points  avec  de  Charpentier  qui  n'a 
publie  qu^in  an  plus  tard ;  les  autres,  et  Forbes  en  particulier,  meme 
en  1842,  nfont  refuse  la  connaissance  de  tout  fait  qui  n'etait  pas 

1  It  is 'evident  that  Agassiz,  at  that  time,  still  hoped  to  be  called  to  a 
professorship  in  the  University  of  Berlin. 


1 845.]  HIS  BIOGRAPHY  BY  PICTET. 

mentionne  dans  mes  Etudes  et  cela  meme  pour  des  faits  que  je  li 
ai  montres  le  premier.     Ce  n'est  done  pas  pour  une  miserable  glo- 
riole que  je  reclame,  mais  par  un  sentiment  de  just; 

Demain  ou  apres-demain  je  vous  enverrai  mes  Myes. 
Adieu,  mon  cher  ami. 

Tout  a  vous. 

Ls.  Agassiz. 

P.S. — Voudriez-vous  dire  a  Favre  ou  a  son  fa-re,  si  Alpho 
est  aux  Diablerets,  qu'alors  meme  que  je  ne  reponds  pas  imme'diate- 
ment  a  sa  lettre,  il  peut  compter  que  je  lui  donnerai  les  renseigne- 
ments  qu'il  me  demande  pour  son  voyage  dans  le  Nord.  avant  mon 
depart. 

Pourrais-je  obtenir  de  Tediteur  de  votre  notice  d'en  avoir  quel- 
ques  exemplaires  pour  distribuer  a  mes  amis? 

Adieu,  bon  voyage  si  vous  allez  a.  Naples,  mes  amities  au  Prince 
de  Canino. 

The  biography  of  Agassiz  by  Pictet  is  almost  un- 
known, on  account  of  its  publication  in  an  album, 
which  had  a  very  limited  circulation,  confined  to  French 
Switzerland,  and  among  a  circle  of  subscribers  residing 
in  villas  round  the  shore  of  the  Lake  of  Geneva.  Of 
the  many  biographical  notices,  published  cither  during 
the  life  or  after  the  death  of  Agassiz,  it  is  by  tar  the 
best;  and  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote  the  fust  and 
last  sentences,  —  two  admirable  pages  of  true  and  just 
homage  to  the  great  naturalist.     Pictet  says  : 

Parmi  les  savants  dont  la  Suisse   a  pu    avec    raison   s'honoi 
dans  ces  dernieres  annees,  Agassiz  est  certainement   un  de  ceux 
dont  la  reputation  est  la  plus  populaire.     Des  travaux  scientifiques 
remarquables,  empreints  de  ce  melange  d'imagination  el  de  jug 
ment  qui  caracte'rise  les  creations  brillantes  et  durables,  une  grai 
perse've'rance  dans  Tetude  des  faits,  une  eloquence  chaleure 
entrainante,  justifient   amplemenl    cette    reputation,  h  laquell 
etudes  sur  les  glaciers,  plus  a  la  ported  de  tout  le  monde 


256  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  x. 

• 

autres  travaux,  ont  ajoute  un  nouvel  eclat.  Qui,  en  effet,  parmi  les 
amis  des  Alpes,  ne  s'est  pas  interesse  a  cette  petite  reunion  cThommes, 
lies  par  Pamour  de  la  science,  transportant  leur  laboratoire  dans  ces 
Hautes  Regions  Glacees,  decrivant  en  artistes  les  beautes  speciales 
de  ces  vastes  solitudes,  y  exercant  une  large  hospitalite  et  deployant 
dans  leurs  travaux  une  perseverance,  une  ardeur  et  quelquefois  une 
hardiesse  bien  faite  pour  captiver  Tattention  des  plus  indifferents  ? 
.  .  .  Nous  avons  cherche  a  esquisser  ici  la  vie  deja  si  remplie  de 
notre  savant  compatriote,  nous  aurions  voulu  oser  penetrer  encore 
plus  avant,  et  raconter  a  ceux  qui  ne  le  connais'sent  pas,  son  carac- 
tere  aimable  et  attachant,  son  ardeur  dans  tout  ce  qu'il  entreprend, 
sa  vivacite  dans  la  discussion  unie  a  la  politesse  du  coeur  et  en  un 
mot  toutes  les  qualites  qui  lui  ont  cree  partout  des  amis  et  qui  Pont 
fait  lame  de  reunions  des  naturalistes  suisses  qu'il  vivifie  par  sa 
presence. 

Such  appreciation,  coming  from  so  independent  and 
just  a  naturalist  as  Jules  Pictet  de  la  Rive,  shows  what 
a  strong  hold  Agassiz  had  upon  his  countrymen,  when 
hardly  in  middle  life ;  indeed,  before  he  was  forty  years 
old.  Every  one  in  Switzerland  felt  that  so  small  and 
modest  a  place  as  Neuchatel  could  not  retain  him 
any  longer.  Even  Swiss  naturalists  saw  plainly  that 
Switzerland  was  too  small  a  field  for  the  indefatigable 
activity  of  a  man  so  gifted,  and  that  his  proper  place 
was  either  at  Paris,  or  in  a  new  and  great  country  like 
the  United  States  of  America ;  and  when  he  left,  every- 
body knew  that  it  was  a  final  departure,  and  that 
Agassiz  was  lost  to  the  fatherland. 

Agassiz's  letter  to  Pictet  is  also  most  important, 
because  it  gives  an  inside  view  of  several  occurrences, 
more  especially  of  the  difficulty  with  de  Charpentier. 
Agassiz  did  not  realize  the  impression  made  on  many 
by  the  impropriety  of  his  publishing  before  de  Charpen- 


i845-]  RETURNS  ALL   THE  SPECIMENS.  j5; 

tier  a  volume  of  "Etudes  des  Glaciers."  Many  ol 
Agassiz's  best  friends  regretted  it  sincerely,  and  there 
is  no  doubt  that  it  was  a  mistake  on  his  part  not  to  have 
waited  until  de  Charpentier  had  issued  his  volume. 

A  last  duty  remained  to  perform  before  saying  good 
by  to  Neuchatel.  It  was  to  return  all  the  specimens  oi 
fossils  so  generously  lent  by  public  establishments  and 
private  individuals  for  his  paloeontological  works. 
was  not  a  small  undertaking;  for  Agassiz,  with  his 
eagerness  to  collect  all  the  material  he  wanted,  asked 
for  and  collected  around  him  a  quantity  of  specimens 
which  he  was  unable  to  make  use  of.  However,  every- 
thing was  carefully  packed  and  sent  safely  to  its  desti- 
nation with  the  thanks  of  the  professor.  And  since  that 
time  all  such  specimens  are  quoted  in  both  public  or 
private  collections  as  determined  by  Agassiz;  every  one 
being  justly  proud  to  have  helped  the  author  of  the 
"  Poissons  fossiles,"  of  the  "  Echinodermes,"  and  of  the 
"  Myes." 


CHAPTER   XI. 

1846. 

Departure  from  Neuchatel,  March,  1846  — Arrival  in  Paris  and 
Sojourn  at  the  "Hotel  du  Jardin  du  Roi  " — "Nouvelles 
Etudes  sur  les  Glaciers  actuels  "  —  The  Glacial  Theory  before 
the  Geological  Society  of  France,  at  the  Meeting  of  the  6th 
of  April,  1846 — Agassiz's  "Catalogue  Raisonne  des  Echino- 
dermes  "  —  His  Work  in  the  "  Galerie  de  Zoologie"  and  among 
the  Private  Collections  of  Brongniart,  de  France,  Deshayes, 
d'Orbigny,  de  Verneuil,  etc.  —  Desor's  Presumption,  in  putting 
his  Name  on  the  Title  Page,  without  Agassiz's  Knowledge  — At- 
tentions paid  to  Agassiz  by  Thiers  —  Indirect  Offer  of  Official 
Positions  at  Paris  declined  —  Short  Visit  to  England,  to  meet 
Charles  Lyell  —  On  a  Cunard  Steamship  frOxM  Liverpool  to 
Boston. 

At  the  beginning  of  March,  1846,  Agassiz  left  Neu- 
chatel, never  to  return,  except  for  a  single  very  short 
visit,  of  a  few  days,  in  1859.  At  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  he  took  the  stage  for  Bale,  en  route  for 
Carlsruhe ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  early  hour,  the 
post-yard  was  filled  with  his  many  friends,  colleagues, 
and  students,  the  last  coming  in  a  body,  with  torch- 
lights, and  giving  him  a  parting  serenade.  Although 
he  spoke  of  his  return,  and  of  resuming  his  scientific 
work  at  Neuchatel,  every  one  felt  that  the  departure 
was  momentous,  and  that  Neuchatel  was  losing  the 
man   who   had   given   it   a  world-wide  reputation   as   a 

258 


1846.]  DEPARTURE  FROM  NEUCHATEL.  259 

centre  of  science,  never  before  equalled  in  Switzerland, 
in  connection  with  such  a  small  town,  such  a  limited 
academy,  and  in  so  short  a  time. 

In  order  to  understand  what  follows,  it  is  necessary 
to  say  a  few  words  concerning  the  material  difficulties 
under  which  Agassiz  laboured  during  his  fourteen 
years'  residence  at  Neuchatel.  His  very  small  salary, 
of  eighty  louis  (Neuchatel  currency),  and  a  few  years 
later  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  louis,  was  hardly  suffi- 
cient to  defray  his  household  expenses,  even  if  he  had 
limited  them  strictly  to  his  family.  But  very  soon  he 
largely  increased  all  his  expenditure,  both  for  his  pub- 
lications and  for  his  assistants.  At  first,  his  sister  and 
wife  helped  him,  and  his  friend  Louis  de  Coulon  assisted 
him  in  bibliographic  work,  and  in  collecting  under  his 
direction.  But  when  he  became  interested  in  glaciers 
and  the  glacial  question,  it  was  too  great  a  task  for 
his  voluntary  assistants,  and,  in  addition,  new  duties 
obliged  Mrs.  Agassiz  to  give  up  drawing  and  writ- 
ing for  her  husband.  If  Agassiz  was  an  indefat- 
igable worker,  when  busied  in  the  observation  of 
new  facts,  he  was  too  impatient,  and  always  carried 
too  far  by  new  schemes,  to  write  books,  or  even 
memoirs.  As  he  himself  says,  it  was  very  difficult 
for  him  to  sit  down  at  his  desk  and  write  all  he  had 
observed  and  knew  on  a  subject.  "Je  ne  suis  pas  un 
cul  de  plomb  comme  Richard  Owen,"  the  great  English 
palaeontologist.  He  always  envied  this  faculty,  so 
strongly  characteristic  of  Professor  Owen.  But  it  was 
vain  for  him  to  try  to  acquire  it,  for  he  soon  fretted, 
was    extremely   nervous,   and   finally   left  the   work    to 


26o  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xi. 

others  to  finish,  or  abandoned  it  altogether,  never 
returning  to  it.  With  such  a  disposition,  Agassiz  was 
much  in  need  of  a  secretary  and  assistants  able  to 
understand  his  instructions  and  to  carry  out  and  finish 
his  numerous  schemes.  He  successively  added  several 
assistants.  In  fact,  the  apartment  of  the  professor 
was  a  sort  of  "  Pension  bourgeoise  "  for  naturalists  and 
artists ;  for,  besides  the  regular  inmates,  there  was  a 
constant  arrival  of  friends,  and  of  members  of  the 
Agassiz  family,  who  were  quite  numerous  around  Neu- 
chatel, and  of  foreign  naturalists,  such  as  the  two 
Schimpers  and  the  two  Braun  brothers.  Of  course, 
the  one  hundred  and  sixty  louis  of  his  salary  were  soon 
exhausted  in  keeping  such  an  establishment,  and  needed 
additions  of  money  were  lacking  all  the  time.  Agassiz 
very  quickly  expended  his  share  of  his  inheritance  from 
his  father,  and  then  all  his  family  were  obliged  to  help 
him  ;  which  they  did  at  first  with  pleasure,  and  after- 
ward with  some  reluctance. 

The  Neuchatel  burgesses,  and  more  especially  all 
the  wealthy  families,  who  had  contributed  to  the  sub- 
scription for  founding  his  professorship  of  natural 
history,  were  ready  to  help  him,  and  very  generously 
contributed  money  for  each  new  scheme  brought  be- 
fore them  by  Agassiz.  But  as  soon  as  one  scheme 
was  fairly  started,  another,  absolutely  unexpected, 
was  added  to  the  burden.  And,  as  one  of  the 
most  liberal  of  those  naturalists  of  Neuchatel  says, 
"  We  were  ready  to  help  Agassiz  with  money ;  but 
there  was  no  end  to  his  constant  needs.  He  had 
already    expended,    in    advance,    all    we    were    glad    to 


1846.]  GREAT  LUMP  OF  GOLD.  261 

offer  him,  ct  e'etait  toujours  a  recommencer."  In  fact, 
Agassiz  had  exhausted  all  his  credit,  when  he  left  Neu- 
chatel,  having  made  use,  one  after  another,  of  each  of 
his  friends,  and  of  his  whole  family.  And  all  for 
science !  for  he  had  few  needs,  and  was  by  no  means 
extravagant  in  personal  expenses.  Always  generous 
when  he  had  money  in  his  hands,  he  distributed  it  to 
his  assistants,  draughtsmen,  and  lithographers,  never 
thinking  of  himself  and  of  his  own  family,  until  all 
others  had  been  supplied.  On  the  whole,  Agassiz  was 
a  very  rare  character,  —  always  hopeful,  but  a  great 
dreamer;  and  he  acted,  all  his  life,  as  if  he  knew  with 
certainty  that  a  great  lump  of  gold  belonging  to  him 
was  lying  somewhere  behind  an  enormous  boulder,  and 
that  he  had  only  to  extend  his  hand  behind  the  boulder, 
and  fill  his  pockets  with  as  much  as  he  wanted.  And, 
curiously  enough,  this  dream  of  his  was  fully  realized, 
only  it  was  at  the  end  of  his  life,  and  for  the  benefit  of 
his  children.  And  so  was  fulfilled  Humboldt's  predic- 
tion, in  a  letter  dated  Berlin,  June  17,  1838,  that  "he  was 
certain  that  there  was  gold  somewhere  in  his  polished 
rocks.  I  should  like  to  find  the  secret  which  you 
possess,  to  work  all  those  mines."  For  it  is  under,  and 
even  in,  polished  rocks  of  the  great  North  American 
glacier  extending  from  Greenland  to  Minnesota  that 
Agassiz's  great  gold  lump  lay. 

When  Agassiz  left  Neuchatel,  it  was  arranged  that 
Desor  and  Girard  should  pack  up  about  two  hundred 
volumes,  —  the  most  necessary  works  for  reference  on 
glaciers  and  fossil  echinoderms,  —  and  leave  all  the 
rest   of    Agassiz's    already   large    library   in   charge   of 


262  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xi. 

William  Hiiber,  the  librarian,  with  directions  to  con- 
tinue the  bibliographic  collection  of  titles  for  Agassiz's 
great  manuscript  list,  forming  his  "  Bibliographia  Zool- 
ogioe  et  Geologiae,"  and  then  hasten  to  Paris  to  meet 
Agassiz  on  his  arrival  there. 

The  son,  Alexander,  then  a  boy  of  eleven  years,  was 
left  at  Neuchatel,  to  pursue  his  studies  at  the  College. 
The  two  daughters  and  Mrs.  Agassiz  were  already  liv- 
ing at  Carlsruhe  with  Alexander  Braun,  the  always 
trusted  friend  of  Agassiz  and  the  excellent  brother  of 
his  wife.  Having  disposed  as  satisfactorily  as  possible 
of  all  his  affairs  and  the  numerous  persons  more  or  less 
dependent  on  him,  Agassiz  took  his  departure,  with  a 
heavy  heart  and  great  anxiety  as  to  his  future.  He 
knew  too  well  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  return 
and  assume  again  the  same  position,  —  a  position  inad- 
equate to  his  wants  and  his  aspirations  as  a  savant  and 
as  the  head  of  a  family.  The  world  was  open  before 
him,  to  be  sure  ;  but  all  was  uncertainty.  However,  his 
will  was  strong  to  conquer  a  position ;  and  with  that 
determination  constantly  in  view,  he  began  life  again  at 
the  ripe  age  of  thirty-nine  years. 

After  a  few  days  passed  with  his  family  at  Carlsruhe, 
Agassiz  arrived  in  Paris  at  the  end  of  March,  stay- 
ing, as  he  was  accustomed  to  do,  at  the  old  "  Hotel 
du  Jardin  du  Roi,"  rue  Copau  (now  rue  Lacepede), 
near  the  Jardin  des  Plantes.  There  he  was  received  by 
Desor  and  Girard,  to  whom  were  added  Karl  Vogt,  at 
that  time  a  resident  of  the  hotel,  and  Dickmann,  one  of 
Agassiz's  artists. 

At   once    Agassiz    started    several    works ;     first,    an 


1846.]  ETUDES  SUR    GLACIERS.  263 

octavo  volume  on  the  glaciers,  and  second,  a  "  Cata- 
logue raisonne  des  Echinodermes  vivants  et  fossils." 
After  his  publication  of  "  Etudes  sur  les  Glaciers ' 
(1840),  Agassiz  began  in  1841  a  new  series  of  re- 
searches and  observations  on  the  structure  of  ice,  the 
temperature,  the  annual  progression,  and  the  daily 
movement  of  glaciers ;  and  it  was  the  result  of  these 
four  years  of  constant  study  on  the  glacier  of  the  Aar 
that  he  wished  to  present  to  the  scientific  world. 

A  well-known  Paris  publisher,  M.  Victor  Masson, 
purchased  Agassiz's  manuscript,  the  first  fruit  of  his 
arduous  toil  that  Agassiz  had  succeeded  in  thus  dispos- 
ing of;  but,  unhappily,  the  transaction  proved  an  un- 
fortunate one  for  the  publisher,  who  lost  heavily,  the 
failure  being  due  partly  to  political  trouble  in  France  in 
1848,  a  short  time  after  the  work  was  issued,  partly  to 
its  incompleteness.  According  to  the  announcement,  it 
was  to  be  composed  of  three  parts,  of  which  the  first 
only  was  published ;  the  contemplated  second  part  was 
to  be  furnished  by  Arnold  Guyot,  on  the  distribution  of 
boulders  round  the  Alps,  and  the  third  part,  on  the  geo- 
graphical distribution  of  old  glaciers  all  the  world  over, 
by  E.  Desor.  Guyot  and  Desor  contented  themselves 
with  a  few  short  papers,  published  in  the  "Bulletin  de  la 
Societe  des  Sciences  Naturelles  de  Neuchatel,"  1847,  on 
the  erratic  boulders  of  the  basins  of  the  Rhone,  Rhine, 
and  the  Pennine  Alps ;  and  in  the  "  Bulletin  de  la 
Societe  Geologique  de  France,"  on  the  glacial  deposits 
of  Scandinavia,  and  the  erratic  or  Quaternary  of  North 
America. 

As  usual,  Desor  wrote  the  first  part,  under  Agassiz's 


264  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xi. 

direction  and  supervision.  Chapter  by  chapter,  Agassiz 
looked  over  the  manuscript,  correcting  with  pencil,  and 
indicating  additions  to  be  made.  The  manuscript  was 
finished  before  Agassiz  left  Paris,  and  went  to  the 
printer  between  November,  1846,  and  April,  1847;  first 
under  the  direction  of  Desor,  who  left  Paris  at  the  end 
of  February,  1847,  and  afterward  under  the  direction 
of  Charles  Martins,  who  wrote  the  introduction  and  fin- 
ished the  excellent  list  of  works  on  the  present  glaciers. 
Thus  the  volume  is  a  rather  composite  one,  through  the 
collaboration  of  Desor  and  Martins,  and  as  a  whole,  is 
less  important  than  Agassiz's  first  volume  on  the  gla- 
ciers, although  it  contains  many  new  facts.  The  truth 
is,  that  Agassiz  and  Desor  were  not  physicists ;  and 
although  Martins  and  Bravais,  who  were  good  physi- 
cists, helped  them  with  their  advice  at  the  glacier  of 
the  Aar,  they  failed  to  recognize  the  plasticity  of  gla- 
ciers, as  Bishop  Rendu  and  James  Forbes  had  done 
in  the  case  of  the  Savoy  glaciers ;  and  it  was  reserved 
for  the  great  English  physicist,  John  Tyndall,  to  solve 
the  problem  of  the  conversion  of  snow  into  ice  by  pres- 
sure, to  find  the  cause  of  glacier  motion  in  pressure, 
regelation,  crystallization,  and  internal  liquefaction,  —  a 
splendid  discovery  which  was  made  between  1856  and 
1859,  and  published  in  i860,  in  a  work  entitled  "Gla- 
ciers of  the  Alps." 

Beside  the  publication  of  the  volume  on  the  glaciers, 
Agassiz,  during  his  stay. in  Paris,  greatly  advanced  the 
acceptance  of  the  glacial  doctrine  by  all  unprejudiced 
geologists.  In  a  communication  made  before  the  Geo- 
logical Society  of  France,  at  the  meeting  of  the  6th  of 


1S46.]  GLACIAL    THEORY  IN  PARIS.  265 

April,  1846,  he  discussed,  with  more  care,  if  possible, 
than  usual,  all  the  plain  facts  observed  on  the  present 
glaciers,  as  regards  polishing  of  rocks,  directions  of 
striated  marks,  "  cailloux  stries,  boue  glaciaire,"  trans- 
portation of  boulders,  etc.  For  we  must  keep  in  mind 
that  everything  was  contested  and  often  denied  by 
the  opponents  of  the  glacial  theory.  Agassiz  had 
before  him,  however,  an  audience  suited  to  his  wishes. 
De  Beaumont,  the  great  adversary  of  glaciers,  was 
there ;  also  de  Beaumont's  collaborator  and  right  arm, 
Dufrenoy,  besides  some  partisans  of  his  own  views, 
among  them  Constant  Prevost,  Deshayes,  Martins,  Bra- 
vais,  Dollfus-Ausset,  d'Omalius  d'Halloy,  and  Major 
Leblanc.  It  was  a  very  important  meeting,  for  Agassiz 
was  able  to  answer  every  objection.  De  Beaumont, 
who  was  always  very  cunning  when  in  the  presence  of 
original  and  able  observers,  preserved  a  discreet  silence, 
and  let  all  the  heat  of  the  discussion  rest  on  Dufrenoy, 
contenting  himself  with  smiling  and  nodding  his  ap- 
proval. It  was  a  curious  duel.  Dufrenoy,  always  scep- 
tical, but  amiable,  and  rather  inclined  to  be  humorous, 
asked  if  the  "  cailloux  stries"  were  truly  a  good  indica- 
tion of  the  existence  of  old  glaciers.  "Yes!"  was  the 
answer.  "  They  are  the  characteristic  fossils  of  a  gla- 
cier." Little  by  little,  the  audience  of  eighty  persons, 
all  good  geologists,  came  round  to  Agassiz's  views.  It 
was  a  marked  success;  so  much  so,  that  de  Beaumont 
left  the  room  before  the  end  of  the  meeting ;  and 
Dufrenoy,  when  the  meeting  was  over,  said  aloud  to 
Agassiz,  referring  to  his  collaboration  and  compan- 
ionship  with   de    Beaumont    during    twenty-five    years, 


266  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xi. 

i 

"  Croycz-vous  que  j'ai  ete  toujours  a  la  noce  avec  lui ;  " 
showing  how  much  he  had  to  endure  from  the  disposi- 
tion of  his  colleague  in  the  construction  of  the  Geological 
Map  of  France. 

On  this  day  the  glacial  theory  at  last  gained  the 
ascendency  in  France.  De  Beaumont,  for  two  years 
longer,  continued  an  underhanded  opposition  by  means 
of  some  of  his  favourite  pupils,  Messrs.  Durocher  and 
Frappoli.  But  Charles  Martins,  a  remarkable  speaker 
and  good  writer,  took  the  question  where  Agassiz  left  it, 
and  easily  extinguished  all  opposition.  Now  it  may  seem 
strange  to  many  that  such  a  clear  question,  with  such 
admirable  and  visible  proofs,  should  have  encountered 
such  a  powerful  opposition,  and  arraigned  against  it  such 
geologists  as  Alexander  von  Humboldt,  von  Buch,  Elie 
de  Beaumont,  and  Murchison.  Geology  is  too  vast  for 
any  one  man,  whatever  his  intellectual  capacity  and 
knowledge,  to  be  a  good  judge  and  an  expert  on  all  the 
questions  which  arise.  At  the  beginning  of  the  crea- 
tion of  modern  geology  it  was  the  custom  for  every 
one  to  give  his  opinions  on  each  point.  In  this  way, 
a  number  of  errors  were  accepted  as  facts ;  and  it 
required  generations  of  able  observers  to  remove  these 
great  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  geology.  The  belief 
in  the  transportation  of  boulders  by  great  mud  currents, 
in  connection  with  the  universal  deluge  of  the  Mosaic 
tradition,  was  so  deeply  implanted  in  the  minds,  even 
of  savants,  that  it  was  not  an  easy  task  for  Venetz, 
de  Charpentier,  and  Agassiz  to  uproot  it.  It  laid  upon 
them  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  hard  work  and  harder 
fighting. 


1846.]         IN  THE  "GALER/E  DE  ZOOLOG/E."  267 

From  the  time  of  his  first  establishment  at  Neuchatel, 
Agassiz  had  taken  great  interest  in  the  echinoderms, 
publishing,  from  1833  to  1845,  numerous  and  most 
important  memoirs  on  the  subject.  His  stay  at  Paris 
was  an  opportunity  long  looked  for,  and  he  seized 
upon  it  with  his  usual  enthusiasm.  All  the  public  and 
private  collections  were  at  his  complete  disposal.  The 
Jardin  des  Plantes,  with  its  vast  wealth,  known  and 
unknown,  was  thrown  open  to  him.  The  old  gallery 
of  zoology,  just  opposite  the  "  Pitie  Hospital'  had  its 
best  room  barricaded ;  and  drawers  filled  with  speci- 
mens, barrels  of  all  shapes,  containing  collections  of 
marine  animals  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  never 
opened  until  now,  were  brought  from  cellars  and  gar- 
rets, and  arranged  in  front  of  the  usual  collection  of 
echinoderms  exhibited  to  the  public.  Agassiz  placed 
the  specimens  on  long  tables ;  and  there,  with  the  help 
of  his  friend  Valenciennes,  professor  of  conchology, 
and  his  assistant,  Louis  Rousseau,  —  a  brother  of  the 
great  landscape  painter,  Theodore  Rousseau,  —  he  began 
classification  and  determination,  dictating  to  his  secre- 
tary, Desor,  the  descriptions  of  families,  genera,  and 
species.  Sometimes  his  enthusiasm  was  raised  to  per- 
fect rapture,  when  some  new  species  or  a  new  genus 
was  found  in  one  of  the  barrels  brought  up  from  the 
Pacific  Ocean  by  exploring  expeditions  of  the  end  of 
the  last  or  the  beginning  of  this  century.  It  was 
interesting  and  also  amusing  to  see  him  with  a  sea- 
urchin  in  one  hand,  and  a  lens  in  the  other,  analyzing 
each  organ  and  each  part  of  the  animal,  with  that  accu- 
racy of  description  for  which  he  was  justly  celebrated  ; 


268  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [ciiAr.  xi. 

and  after  looking  at  the  label  of  the  barrel,  he  would 
sometimes  exclaim,  "  Why !  it  was  collected  by  Ouoy 
and  Gaimard,  or  by  Hurnbron,  or  some  one  else,  on  the 
shore  of  Tasmania  or  New  Zealand,  during  the  voyage 
round  the  world  of  de  Freycinet,  or  Dupere,  or  Dumont 
d'Urville,"  etc.  Happiness  beamed  on  his  face;  and 
satisfaction  was  seen  in  every  movement,  exclamation, 
and  posture.  What  an  admirer  of  natural  history 
objects!  It  was  impossible  to  resist  feeling  interest  in 
his  work.  He  excited  the  curiosity  of  every  one  in  the 
gallery,  and  even  the  guardians  and  porters  were  deeply 
affected  and  attracted  around  the  professor.  The  guar- 
dian, or  janitor,  named  Philippe  Pothau,  so  well  known 
by  all  zoologists  who  have  studied,  or  even  only  passed 
through  the  collections  of  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  was 
in  ecstasy  and  rapture  before  Agassiz.  He  was 
not  accustomed  to  see  such  enthusiasm,  Valenciennes 
being  the  most  prosaic  and  immovable  of  men,  and  all 
the  other  professors  of  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  being 
either  very  sceptical,  or  too  busy  to  pay  much  attention 
to  the  treasures  under  their  guardianship. 

The  private  collections  at  Paris  were  then  more 
numerous  and  more  important  than  at  the  present 
time.  The  impulse  given  to  the  study  of  palaeontol- 
ogy and  geology  by  Cuvier  and  his  school  had  not  yet 
died  out.  His  principal  collaborator  Alexandre  Bron- 
gniart  was  still  alive  ;  and  on  two  successive  Sundays  he 
himself  exhibited  to  Agassiz  his  fine  collection  of  fossil 
echinoderms,  some  of  which  were  the  types  described 
by  Lamarck  and  himself  in  his  celebrated  "  Geologie 
des  Environs  de  Paris."     Def ranee,  one  of  the  ablest 


1846.]  CATALOGUE  DES  ECHINODERMES.  269 

and  most  modest  of  all  French  palaeontologists  of  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  was  also  still  alive, 
and  with  his  printed  list  of  fossil  remains  entitled, 
"Tableau  des  corps  organises  fossiles,"  etc.,  in  his 
hands,  he  pointed  out  each  of  the  echinoderms  to 
Agassiz.  Besides  those  two  collections,  so  important 
on  account  of  the  types  they  contained,  Agassiz  studied, 
one  after  another,  the  fine  collections  of  Alcide  d'Or- 
bigny,  Deshayes,  Michelin,  Graves,  de  Verneuil,  d'Ar- 
chiac,  as  well  as  the  public  collections  of  the  Ecole  des 
Mines,  la  Sorbonne,  and  the  Ecole  Normale.  It  was  a 
rare  enjoyment  for  Agassiz. 

He  himself  wrote,  without  any  aid  from  his  secre- 
tary, the  "  Resume  d'un  travail  d'ensemble  sur  l'orga- 
nisation,  la  classification  et  le  developpement  progressif 
des  Echinodermes  dans  la  Serie  des  terrains  " ;  a  mas- 
terly review  of  his  knowledge  of  the  Echinidae,  and 
read  it  before  the  Academy  of  Science  of  the  Institute, 
of  which  he  had  been  a  corresponding  member  since 
April,  1839.  Printed  first  in  the  "  Comptes-rendus  de 
l'Academie,"  Vol.  XXIII.,  it  was  reprinted  with  very  few 
alterations  and  addition  in  the  "  Annales  des  Sciences 
naturelles,"  as  an  introduction  to  the  "  Catalogue  rai- 
sonne  des  families,  des  genres  et  des  especes  de  la 
classe  des  echinodermes,  par  MM.  L.  Agassiz  et  E. 
Desor."  The  secretary  and  assistant  of  a  savant  has 
no  scientific  right  to  authorship  in  the  publications 
made  by  the  savant,  though  generally  the  savant  says 
in  the  introduction,  or  in  the  body  of  the  work,  that  he 
has  been  helped  by  his  assistant.  Agassiz  refers  several 
times  in  the  introduction  of    the   "  Catalogue  raisonne 


270  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap,  xi, 

des  Echinides,"  to  Desor  and  his  help ;  and  it  was  the 
only  recognition  really  due.  But  Desor,  without  asking 
permission,  took  upon  himself  to  add  his  name,  as  one 
of  the  two  authors  of  the  "  Catalogue,"  a  high-handed 
proceeding  which  did  not  come  to  the  knowledge  of 
Agassiz,  until  May,  1848,  when  he  received  the  fifty 
separate  copies  printed  for  his  private  use.  It  is  not 
surprising  that  Agassiz  resented  the  presumption  and 
expressed  his  disapproval  in  his  great  work:  ''Contribu- 
tions to  the  Natural  History  of  the  United  States  of 
America,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  97,  Boston,  1857,  in  the  following 
terms :  "  Catalogue  raisonne,  etc.  I  quote  this  paper 
under  my  name  alone,  because  that  of  Mr.  Desor,  which 
is  added  to  it,  has  no  right  there.  It  was  added  by 
him,  after  I  had  left  Europe,  not  only  without  authority, 
but  even  without  my  learning  it,  for  a  whole  year.  .  .  . 
This  is  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  cases  of  plagiarism 
I  know  of."  Being  the  most  important  witness  in  the 
case,  and  the  only  survivor  of  all  those  who  had  anything 
to  do  with  that  "Catalogue,"  I  shall  dispose  in  a  few 
words  of  the  claims  made  rather  cavalierly  by  Desor  in 
his  "  Synopsis  des  Echinodermes  fossiles,"  p.  xv,  Re- 
ponse  a  M.  Agassiz,  Paris,  1858. 

Not  only  was  I  present  many  times  when  Agassiz 
dictated  to  Desor  the  descriptions  of  genera  and  species, 
and  accompanied  him  often  in  his  visits  to  the  private 
and  public  collections  of  echinids  in  Paris,  but  it  was 
to  me  that  the  manuscript  was  entrusted  by  Desor  when 
he  started  for  America,  on  the  last  day  of  February, 
1847.  About  two-thirds  of  the  "  Catalogue  "  —  the  first 
eight  sheets  —  had  been  printed  under  the  supervision 


1846.]  CATALOGUE  RAISONNE,  ETC.  271 

of  Desor.  I  had  to  correct  the  proofs  of  sheets  9,  10, 
and  11,  and  besides  to  write  not  only  the  "Addenda," 
but  also  the  entire  "  Distribution  geologique  dcs  echi- 
nides  fossiles,"  with  many  notes  and  corrections.  The 
memoir  was  not  issued  in  separate  form  until  January, 
1848,  and  it  was  I  who  delivered  it  to  Agassiz  at 
Cambridge,  in  May,  1848.  I  remember  perfectly  the 
amazement  with  which  Agassiz  saw  the  name  of  Desor 
on  the  cover  as  one  of  the  authors,  and  as  Agassiz 
knew  the  part  I  also  had  taken  in  the  memoir,  he  said  : 
"  But  you  have  more  right  than  Desor  to  put  also  your 
name  as  one  of  the  authors,  for  you  did  it  entirely  with- 
out compensation  of  any  sort,  only  in  kindness  and 
friendship."  On  the  whole,  it  was  very  presumptuous 
in  Desor,  who  had  assumed  the  position  of  Maire  du 
Palais,  ruling  at  his  will,  not  only  Agassiz's  household, 
but  also  distributing  scientific  authorship  according  to 
his  fancy  or  private  interest.  The  part  taken  by  him 
was  simply  that  of  a  subordinate.  Entirely  in  the  pay 
of  Agassiz,  he  simply  wrote,  mainly  under  Agassiz's 
dictation,  the  characteristics ;  added  the  description  of 
about  one  hundred  species  —  more  or  less  —  and  three 
or  four  new  genera,  and  also  corrected  a  few  errors, 
which  was  all  a  part  of  his  duty  as  secretary.  Agassiz 
had  begun  his  studies  and  publications  on  the  cchino- 
derms  five  or  six  years  before  Desor  came  to  Neuchatel, 
and  when  he  became  Agassiz's  secretary  he  knew  abso- 
lutely nothing  of  echinoderms,  or  even  of  zoology. 

The  "  Catalogue  raisonne,"  etc.,  notwithstanding  its 
many  imperfections,  marked  great  progress  when  it  was 
published;    and   has,    ever    since,  served    as    the    basis 


272  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xi. 

of  classification  of  the  echinoderms.  It  is  constantly 
quoted,  and  will  continue  to  be  quoted,  just  as  the 
"  Animaux  sans  vertebres '  of  Lamarck  is ;  and  it 
is  one  of  the  great  services  rendered  by  Agassiz  to 
zoology. 

Agassiz  was  the  recipient  of  all  sorts  of  attention  dur- 
ing his  stay  in  Paris.  He  met  many  old  friends,  not  only 
Parisians,  but  even  men  from  the  provinces  and  from 
foreign  countries,  who  came  to  bid  him  farewell.  M. 
Esprit  Requien,  the  celebrated  director  of  the  museum 
at  Avignon,  who  had  communicated  all  his  magnificent 
collection  of  fossil  fishes,  more  especially  those  from  the 
celebrated  locality  of  Aix-en-Provence,  for  Agassiz's 
great  monograph  on  the  "  Poissons  fossiles,"  took 
lodging  at  the  same  hotel,  the  "  Jardin  du  Roi,"  in 
order  to  see  as  much  of  Agassiz  as  possible.  Requien 
was  a  rare  type  of  savant :  being  an  archaeologist,  a 
numismatologist,  and  a  botanist  and  zoologist,  and  a 
friend  to  every  one  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  from 
Stendhal  (Beyle),  Prosper  Merimee,  Adolphe  Thiers, 
De  Candolle,  and  Alcide  d'Orbigny,  to  Agassiz.  He 
possessed  that  exuberance  of  word  and  gesture  so  char- 
acteristic of  the  Provencal  people  and  so  well  portrayed 
by  one  of  their  own  writers,  Alphonse  Daudet.  Agassiz 
much  enjoyed  his  visit.  There  was  another  Provencal, 
Adolphe  Thiers,  who  also  was  much  attracted  by  the 
charm  of  Agassiz's  society.  They  had  previously  met; 
but  it  was  during  Agassiz's  present  stay  in  Paris  that  a 
true  friendship  ripened  between  the  two  men,  and  their 
later  correspondence  showed  many  points  of  resem- 
blance and  common  interest;  both  having  an  unbounded 


1846.]  FRIENDSHIP    WITH  A.   THIERS.  273 

confidence  in  their  power  of  conversation  and  public 
speech,  and  being  extremely  fond  of  applause  and 
congenial  society ;  they  soon  came  to  appreciate  one 
another,  and  from  this  time  Thiers,  influenced  by  his 
conversations  with  Agassiz,  became  devoted  to  natural 
history.  At  that  time,  however,  he  had  no  leisure  to 
give  to  it,  being  absorbed  by  his  history  of  the  Consulate 
and  the  Empire,  and  afterward  by  his  political  positions  ; 
but  as  soon  as  he  was  free  after  his  Presidency  of  the 
third  French  Republic,  he  turned  to  science  as  a  favour- 
ite study  and  consecrated  the  greater  part  of  the  last 
years  of  his  life  to  the  history  of  the  earth. 

There  also  came  to  Paris  at  this  time,  whether  or  not 
attracted  by  Agassiz  it  is  impossible  to  say,  one  who 
had  been  a  not  over-scrupulous  opponent  of  Agassiz 
on  the  glaciers, — no  other  than  James  D.  Forbes,  of 
Edinburgh,  —  and  an  attempt  was  made  in  his  name  to 
effect  a  reconciliation.  After  the  publication  by  Agassiz, 
in  1842,  of  the  history  of  his  difficulties  with  Forbes, 
the  scientific  world,  at  least  on  the  European  continent, 
had  pronounced  against  the  method  used  by  Forbes 
during  and  after  his  visits  to  the  glacier  of  the  Aar  as 
Agassiz's  guest.  A  common  friend,  Elie  de  Beaumont, 
invited  Agassiz  to  a  great  dinner  party  to  meet  Forbes, 
insisting  upon  the  desire  on  the  part  of  Forbes  to 
forget  the  past  and  be  friends  again  ;  but  Agassiz  very 
politely,  though  firmly,  declined  the  invitation,  feeling 
that  the  attacks  of  Forbes  had  been  marked  by  too 
great  impropriety  to  allow  of  further  friendly  relations. 

During  his  stay  in  Paris,  it  occurred  to  several  of 
Agassiz's  friends  and  acquaintances,  that  he  might  be 


274  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xi. 

induced  to  settle  there  permanently.  Nothing  would 
have  been  easier  for  the  French  government  than  to 
secure  his  services,  if  not  at  once,  at  least  after  his 
engagement  with  the  Lowell  Institute  in  Boston  had 
been  filled,  and  his  promises  to  send  collections  to 
Berlin  and  Neuchatel,  in  return  for  the  advance  money 
he  had  received  from  the  king  of  Prussia,  had  been 
accomplished.  For  several  reasons,  the  idea  of  his  per- 
manent residence  in  Paris  was  not  to  the  taste  of  the 
leaders  of  natural  history ;  although  they  feasted  him, 
and  gave  him  a  Physiological  prize  of  three  hundred 
dollars  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Institute  of  France, 
they  feared,  that  if  he  became  their  colleague,  he  would 
soon  over-shadow  them  all.  In  fact,  jealousy  was  at  the 
root  of  the  affair ;  and  although  they  loudly  professed 
their  admiration  for  the  man  himself  and  his  work,  and 
were  ready  to  help  him  in  some  of  his  scientific  work, 
they  took  no  proper  steps  in  the  direction  of  keeping 
him.  Nothing  was  offered  in  a  direct  way  by  the 
French  government;  but  indirectly  it  was  hinted  that 
if  he  wanted  to  settle  in  Paris,  official  positions  with 
salary  amounting  to  six  thousand  francs  per  annum 
would  be  granted  to  him.  Agassiz  declined  this  doubt- 
ful offer,  and  it  was  probably  a  great  relief  to  the  official 
zoologists  and  geologists  to  know  that  he  was  not  to 
become  their  rival,  and  possibly  their  leader  and  master 
as  well. 

A  Swiss  artist  of  Neuchatel,  Fritz  Berthoud,  then  a 
resident  in  Paris,  took  advantage  of  Agassiz's  stay  to 
obtain  a  full-length  portrait  of  him.  The  picture,  now 
in  the  museum  at    Neuchatel,  represents  Agassiz  and 


1846.]  VISIT  TO  ENGLAND.  275 

his  secretary  Desor ;  but  the  portrait  of  Agassiz  is  not 
good,  and  the  picture,  as  a  work  of  art,  is  poor,  showing 
only  the  good  will  of  the  artist. 

At  the  end  of  August,  Agassiz  left  Paris,  going  first 
to  London  and  then  to  Southampton,  where  he  attended 
the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Sciences,  the  10th  of  September.  It  was  im- 
portant for  him  to  see  Charles  Lyell,  who  had  lately 
returned  from  his  two  visits  to  North  America,  1841- 
1842  and  1845,  on  June  26,  and  who  had  prepared  the 
way  for  Agassiz,  both  with  Mr.  John  A.  Lowell,  the 
director  of  the  Lowell  Institute  at  Boston,  and  with 
American  savants  in  general,  as  to  what  might  be  ex- 
pected from  the  visit  of  such  a  master  and  enthusiast 
in  natural  history. 

During  his  short  stay  in  England,  Agassiz  saw  plainly 
that,  although  all  the  English  leaders  of  sciences  were 
extremely  courteous  and  friendly  to  him,  it  was  abso- 
lutely useless  to  expect  from  them  the  offer  of  any 
scientific  position.  His  habit  of  going  ahead,  without 
regard  to  the  consequences,  was  too  much  for  English 
precision.  They  admired  Agassiz ;  but  that  was  all. 
Some,  even,  were  ready  to  help  him  in  a  limited 
pecuniary  way,  and  truly  loved  the  savant,  but  the 
"  sans-fagon  "  of  Agassiz  they  could  not  sanction. 

At  the  end  of  September  Agassiz  embarked  at  Liv- 
erpool, on  a  steamer  bound  to  Boston.  The  passage, 
as  it  is  usually  at  about  the  time  of  the  autumn  equi- 
nox, was  extremely  rough ;  so  much  so  that  it  was  very 
much  prolonged,  and  created  apprehension  as  to  the 
safety  of  the  steamer.     The  newspapers  even  announced 


276  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xi. 

that  the  steamer  was  lost;  and  lamentations  on  the  death 
of  Agassiz  were  printed  and  circulated  all  through  Swit- 
zerland: several  of  Agassiz's  friends  and  admirers  shed 
tears  on  reading  the  announcement  of  his  tragical  and 
premature  death.  "What  a  miserable  end,"  says  one  of 
his  best  Swiss  friends,  "  for  poor  Agassiz !  He  was 
much  too  valuable  a  savant  to  perish  in  the  middle 
of  the  ocean."  l  Happily,  the  report  was  without  foun- 
dation ;  but  during  the  difficult  crossing  of  the  Atlantic 
Agassiz  had  full  time  to  realize  his  position.  He  had 
left  Europe  much  discouraged  and  in  an  extremely 
serious  mood.  During  the  past  twenty  years,  he  had 
acquired  a  great  reputation,  but  he  had  had  to  pay 
very  dear  for  it.  Not  only  he  had  worked  hard,  and 
had  even  gone  so  far  as  to  endanger  his  social  posi- 
tion, but  all  his  numerous  publications  had  involved 
pecuniary  losses,  with  the  exception  of  the  fishes  of 
Martius  and  Spix  of  Brazil,  and  his  two  works  now  in 
the  press  in  Paris,  on  the  glaciers  and  the  echinoderms. 
He  had  contracted  debts  which  must  be  paid ;  and  his 
position  at  Neuchatel  was  on  this  account  no  longer 
tenable.  Besides,  he  had  formed  the  habit  of  having 
six,  eight,  and  ten  persons  under  his  control,  to  help  him 
in  his  works  as  assistants,  secretary,  artists,  and  lithog- 
raphers.    He  had  a  family  of  three  children  to  provide 

1  These  two  sentences  may  seem,  now,  rather  melodramatic,  but  they 
well  reflect  the  impression  really  produced.  It  must  be  remembered  that, 
in  1846,  the  crossing  of  the  Atlantic  in  steamships  was  in  its  infancy, 
many  extremely  serious  accidents  were  then  quite  common,  and  steamers 
disappeared  without  leaving  traces  of  any  sort  after  them.  Besides,  in 
the  centre  of  the  continent,  as  Switzerland  is,  a  journey  to  America  was 
considered  a  great  and  dangerous  undertaking. 


1846.]  OAT  A    CUNARD  STEAMSHIP.  277 

for  and  an  invalid  wife  whose  health  was  a  cause  of 
great  apprehension  to  all  her  friends.  In  addition,  his 
stay  in  Paris  and  in  England  had  dissipated  all  hope, 
if  he  had  entertained  any,  of  getting  there  official  posi- 
tions lucrative  enough  to  satisfy  his  numerous  wants 
and  pecuniary  obligations. 

Success  in  America  was  for  him  a  necessity,  as  he 
plainly  saw,  and  he  resolved  to  conquer,  and  bravely  and 
nobly  to  meet  his  destiny,  whatever  came.  The  first 
thing  for  him  to  do  was  to  master  the  English  language 
sufficiently  to  allow  him  to  speak  in  public  and  be  under- 
stood. Ever  since  his  first  visit  to  England  in  1834  he 
had  practised  more  or  less  in  translating  and  speaking 
English ;  but  he  knew  very  well,  from  his  various 
attempts,  how  difficult  it  was  for  him  to  make  himself 
understood  among  his  English  friends.  Lyell  had  told 
him  that  it  was  useless  to  lecture  in  America  in  the 
French  or  German  languages ;  for  those  two  languages 
then  were  used  in  very  narrow  limits,  and  if  he  wished 
to  make  an  impression  on  the  American  public,  he  must 
speak  good  English. 

During  his  long  journey  across  the  Atlantic,  Agassiz 
began  in  earnest,  not  only  speaking  English  all  the 
time,  but  committing  to  memory  English  senteuces  and 
repeating  them  aloud  before  any  one  who  had  the 
patience  to  hear  him.  The  captain  of  the  steamer 
said,  "  I  have  never  had  such  a  passenger  as  you, 
Professor  Agassiz "  ;  and  like  every  one  else,  he  was 
charmed  with  the  great  Swiss  naturalist.  Here  again 
Agassiz's  great  memory  helped  him,  although  no  longer 
so  elastic  as  it  had  been  in  his  youth ;    he  soon  knew  a 


278  LOUIS  AGASSTZ.  [chap.  xi. 

sufficient  number  of  sentences  and  words  to  allow  him 
to  attempt  public  speaking,  as  we  shall  presently  see. 
However,  it  was  too  late  in  life  for  him  to  become  a 
complete  master  of  the  English  language,  as  he  was  of 
the  German.  He  never  spoke  correct  English,  and  he 
always  retained  a  strong  French  accent,  which  was  not 
without  some  charm  to  his  listeners. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

1846  (continued)-i%4rf . 

Arrival  in  America,  and  Reception  by  Mr.  John  A.  Lowell  — 
Condition  of  Natural  History  in  the  United  States  —  His 
First  Visit  to  New  York  —  His  Acquaintance  with  Dr.  Samuel 
Morton,  of  Philadelphia  —  Collections  of  Captain  Wilkes 
made  during  his  Expedition  round  the  World,  seen  at  Wash- 
ington —  Science  at  the  Capital  of  the  United  States  — 
Agassiz's  First  Series  of  Lectures  before  the  Lowell  Institute 
at  Boston  —  His  Success  —  A  Course  on  the  Glaciers,  in  French 

—  Frank  de  Pourtales  joins  him  —  Charleston,  South  Carolina 

—  His  Observations  on  the  Negroes  —  His  Disapproval  of  Sla- 
very—  Arrival  at  New  York  of  his  two  Assistants,  Desor  and 
Girard.  —  Establishment  at  East  Boston  —  Sickness  of  Agassiz 

—  His  Hospitality — A  Visit  to  Niagara  Falls — On  Board  the 
United  States  Coast  Survey  Steamer,  the  "Bibb" — Arrival 
of  Minister  Charles  Louis  Philippe  Christinat  —  First  Dif- 
ficulties with  his  Secretary  —  Two  Letters  to  J.  Marcou, 
extending  an  Invitation  to  join  him. 

One  fine  morning  in  the  first  week  of  October,  1846, 
a  stranger  recently  disembarked  was  seen  in  the  streets 
of  Boston,  looking  to  the  right  and  left,  in  some  aston- 
ishment, but  steadily  making  his  way  to  Pemberton 
Square,  a  rectangle  with  a  garden  in  the  centre,  and 
surrounded  by  fine  three-storied  brick  houses,  at  that 
time  a  very  aristocratic  part  of  the  city,  recalling  many 
squares  and  circles  of  the  London  West  End.  After 
looking  at  the  numbers  of  several  houses,  the  foreigner 

279 


28o  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xii. 

pulled  the  bell  at  the  door  of  Mr.  John  A.  Lowell,  who, 
on  opening  the  door,  was  surprised  to  have  a  stranger, 
with  a  strong  foreign  accent,  ask  if  Mr.  Lowell  was  at 
home.  The  astonishment  was  quickly  changed  into 
undisguised  satisfaction  when  the  stranger  added  :  "I  — 
a-m  P-r-o-f-es-s-or  A-g-a-a-ss-i-z,"  with  the  drawling  pro- 
nunciation so  characteristic  of  Romand  or  French  Swit- 
zerland, and  more  specially  of  Neuchatel.  Mr.  Lowell 
very  cordially  extended  both  hands,  and  congratulated 
him  on  his  safe  arrival ;  and,  in  this  auspicious  manner, 
Agassiz  made  his  entry  into  American  life,  and  was 
launched  into  American  society. 

Lowell,  with  his  keen  eyes,  his  knowledge  of  Euro- 
pean life  and  society,  his  association  with  savants,  was 
very  favourably  impressed  by  Agassiz.  He  saw  at  once 
that  his  friends,  Charles  and  Lady  Lyell,  had  not  over- 
strained the  praise  they  had  bestowed  on  the  scientific 
worth  of  the  savant  they  had  so  highly  recommended 
to  him ;  and  from  that  first  day  he  became  an  ardent 
supporter,  and  soon  after  a  most  intimate  friend  and 
counsellor,  of  Agassiz. 

This  day  was  certainly  one  of  the  happiest  of  Agas- 
siz's  life.  A  new  life  was  opened  to  him  at  a  moment 
of  great  mental  depression  and  despondency,  the  nat- 
ural result  of  the  difficult  position  in  which  he  was 
placed,  both  pecuniarily  and  socially. 

The  moment  of  his  arrival  in  the  New  World  was 
particularly  fortunate  and  well  timed.  Until  then  the 
United  States  had  developed  without  borrowing  much 
from  Europe.  After  the  founding  of  the  New  Eng- 
land   and  Virginia  colonies    and    the  war  of  indepen- 


1846-47-]     SCIENCE  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES.  281 

dcncc,  American  society,  isolated  and  separated  by  the 
broad  and  stormy  Atlantic,  had  been  left  to  its  own 
resources.  At  first  a  new  society  is  necessarily  limited 
to  material  progress,  with  sound  moral  and  religious 
training  ;  but  sciences  and  the  fine  arts  are  not  yet 
needed.  Some  scattered  naturalists  had  here  and  there 
sprung  up,  but  were  not  appreciated  in  proportion  to 
their  real  merits,  and  were  obliged  to  publish  their 
observations  in  Europe,  as  was  the  case  with  the  great 
ornithologist,  Audubon.  However,  now  that  the  great 
Napoleonic  wars  were  over,  a  sort  of  revival  in  scien- 
tific researches  and  studies  had  begun.  The  American 
savants  were  not  numerous  enough  to  influence  society ; 
but  a  general  desire  to  make  scientific  discoveries  and 
to  try  what  Americans  could  do  for  themselves  in  this 
field  of  human  knowledge,  illustrated  by  Buffon,  Linne, 
Cuvier,  Lamarck,  de  Candolle,  etc.,  had  already  begun 
to  exhibit  signs  of  activity.  Local  scientific  societies 
had  sprung  up  at  Philadelphia,  Boston,  New  York,  and 
Washington,  and  essays  in  scientific  periodical  publica- 
tion, although  not  prosperous,  because  as  yet  a  little 
premature,  had  shown  that  American  savants,  and 
especially  American  geologists,  were  desirous  to  enter 
the  arena. 

Curiously  enough,  science  entered  America  led  by 
geology.  To  be  sure,  botany,  ornithology,  conchology, 
entomology,  and  other  branches  of  zoology,  had  some 
representatives  scattered  all  along  the  Atlantic  borders, 
and  even  as  far  west  as  New  Harmony  (then  in  the  Indian 
Territory)  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  but  they  were  not  only 
isolated,  but  also   without  the   support  of  the   people. 


232  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xii. 

Public  opinion  did  not  encourage  them.  This  was  not 
the  case  with  geology.  People  in  general,  and  agricult- 
urists in  particular,  soon  showed  an  eager  desire  to  know 
the  resources  of  the  soils,  the  rocks,  and  the  mines. 
Geological  surveys  were  started  at  the  expense  of  the 
State  in  North  Carolina,  Virginia,  Maryland,  Pennsyl- 
vania, New  Jersey,  the  New  England  States,  New 
York,  and  Ohio.  A  desire  to  agree  on  points  of  classi- 
fication and  to  know  one  another  brought  together  the 
state  geologists,  who  founded  in  1840  the  "Association 
of  American  Geologists,"  the  first  national  scientific 
organization,  and  which  held  its  meetings  at  different 
places  in  the  Union. 

The  two  visits  of  Lyell  in  1841  and  1845,  and  the 
important  journey  of  de  Verneuil  in  1846,  among  the 
palaeozoic  formations  from  the  State  of  New  York  and 
Canada,  to  the  Ohio  Valley,  the  Upper  Mississippi 
River,  and  Lake  Superior,  had  given  a  strong  impulse 
to  geological  researches,  in  bringing  about  the  much 
needed  comparison  with  European  classification  and 
synchronism.  The  field  was  well  prepared,  if  not 
zoologically,  at  least  palaeontologically,  to  receive  one  of 
the  greatest  palaeontologists  hitherto  produced  by  Europe. 
The  coming  of  Agassiz  was  anticipated  with  great  joy 
by  all  American  naturalists,  and  the  more  so,  because  at 
first  his  stay  was  announced  to  be  only  temporary. 

After  a  few  weeks  spent  in  Boston,  making  the  ac- 
quaintance of  the  Boston  naturalists,  and  visiting  the 
surrounding  country,  more  especially  the  seashores  and 
beaches,  Agassiz  went  to  New  Haven,  New  York, 
Princeton,  Philadelphia,  Washington,  and  Albany.     In 


1846-47]  FIRST   VISIT  TO  NEW   YORK.  283 

this,  his  first  experience,  everything  was  new  to  him, 
—  the  people,  the  natural  history,  and  American  cus- 
toms and  society,  —  and  his  first  impressions  were  most 
encouraging.  With  his  extraordinary  penetration  and 
far-seeing  vision,  he  realized  what  stores  of  scientific 
problems  were  in  readiness,  wanting  only  a  little  push 
to  start  the  whole  machinery  of  thorough  researches 
over  half  a  continent.  It  was  just  the  work  for  him; 
American  natural  history  had  found  its  leader. 

When  I  said  that  Agassiz  was  much  encouraged  by 
what  he  saw  of  American  society,  during  October  and 
November,  1846,  it  must  not  be  understood  that  it  was 
the  fashionable  world  which  he  saw  —  rather  limited 
although  it  was  then,  in  comparison  to  what  it  is  now. 
During  the  first  five  or  six  years  of  his  life  in  America 
Agassiz  paid  very  little  attention  to  what  is  called 
fashionable  society ;  he  even  avoided  it,  reserving  his 
letters  of  introduction,  and  taking  care  to  deliver  them 
only  at  the  last  moment  of  his  stay  in  New  York  and 
Washington,  in  order  to  escape  invitations.  His  time 
was  too  precious  to  allow  dissipation  of  any  sort ;  so 
much  so,  that,  on  his  first  day  in  New  York,  instead 
of  examining  the  magnificent  bay  and  great  city,  he 
begged  his  cousin,  Auguste  Mayor,  a  resident  of  Brook- 
lyn, to  take  him  far  up  Greenwich  Street,  to  the  home 
of  the  only  American  palaeo-ichthyologist,  Mr.  W.  C. 
Redfield,  and  there  he  passed  a  part  of  the  day,  looking 
at  fossil  fishes. 

His  means  did  not  allow  him  to  go  to  first-class  hotels, 
and  he  patronized  second-  and  even  third-class  houses, 
or,  more  accurately,  inns,  as  they  were  then,  at  Albany, 


2S4  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xii. 

Philadelphia,  and  Washington.  He  readily  adapted 
himself  to  American  fare,  except  in  one  particular. 
Born  in  a  wine  country,  even  the  excellent  beer  of 
Bavaria,  during  his  long  and  numerous  stays  in  Ger- 
many, was  never  much  relished  by  him ;  and  to  be 
reduced  to  ice  water  and  tea  was  rather  hard.  However, 
he  was  obliged  often,  too  often  for  his  inclination,  to  do 
the  best  he  could,  contenting  himself  with  an  occasional 
glass  of  claret,  and  a  cup  of  black  coffee,  if  obtain- 
able, which  was  seldom  the  case.  But  as  soon  as  he 
possessed  a  home,  he  provided  light  red  wine  and  black 
coffee  at  luncheon  and  dinner,  and  adhered  to  this 
custom  until  the  last  day  of  his  life.  He  never  drank 
freely  of  strong  wine,  like  the  Spanish,  Madeira,  and 
Portuguese  wines,  and  was  averse  to  liquors  of  any  sorts, 
excepting  a  small  glass  of  "Chartreuse"  or  very  old 
Cognac,  when  in  company.  Agassiz  came  to  America 
too  late  in  life  to  change  this  part  of  his  diet. 

At  Princeton,  Agassiz  met,  for  the  first  time,  Professor 
Joseph  Henry,  an  American  savant,  who  became  one 
of  his  best  friends  and  a  constant  admirer.  Professor 
Asa  Gray  of  Cambridge  was  there  also,  at  the  house  of 
the  then  most  celebrated  botanist  in  the  United  States, 
Professor  Torrey ;  and  together  Agassiz  and  Gray 
started  for  Philadelphia  and  Washington.  Agassiz 
knew  more  of  botany  than  was  usual  for  a  zoologist; 
and  Gray,  then  a  young  and  rising  botanist,  was  very 
solicitous  to  please  Agassiz.  Their  friendship  grew 
rapidly,  until  completely  checked  by  the  publication 
of  Darwin's  "Origin  of  Species,"  in  1859. 

Philadelphia  greatly  attracted  Agassiz.     There  he  met 


1846-47-]  VISIT  TO    UWSII/XGTOIV.  285 

Dr.  Samuel  Morton,  the  great  anthropologist,  and  an 
excellent  palaeontologist ;  a  remarkable  man,  entirely  to 
the  taste  of  Agassiz,  through  the  variety  of  his  knowl- 
edge and  the  originality  of  his  discoveries  and  thought. 
He  also  saw  Conrad,  Lea,  Hallowell,  Booth,  and  Frazer, 
and  was,  on  the  whole,  well  impressed  by  Philadelphia .11 
savants. 

At  Washington  he  was  surprised  by  the  gigantic 
scale  on  which  the  French  engineer,  Major  Lenfant, 
had  laid  out  the  capital  of  the  United  States,  by  the 
imposing  and  beautiful  Capitol,  and  also  by  the  empti- 
ness of  many  streets  and  quarters  where  building  had 
hardly  begun.  It  was,  as  it  was  called  then,  the  "  City 
of  Magnificent  Distances."  Washington  was  not  then 
the  great  and  beautiful  city  of  the  present  day.  The 
inhabitants  were  few ;  and  the  government  buildings, 
except  the  splendid  Capitol,  were  limited  to  the  White 
House,  the  State  Department,  the  War  and  Navy 
buildings,  and  the  Patent  Office.  The  Smithsonian 
Institution  existed  only  on  paper ; 1  and  the  savants 
were  few  in  number,  while  the  most  prominent  one, 
Professor  Bache,  the  already  celebrated  director  of  the 
Coast  Survey,  was  absent  on  duty.  Arriving  fresh 
from  the  great  capital  of  France,  it  was  a  contrast  to 
find  science  occupying  so  small  a  place  in  the  great 
American  republic,  at  least  officially.  Mr.  Francis 
Markoe,  the  chief  clerk  of  the  State  Department,  and 
secretary  of  the  National  Institute,  gave  him  a  set  of 
the  Transactions  of  that  society ;  and  to  the  astonish- 

1  Professor  Joseph  Henry  was  not  appointed  secretary  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution  until  several  months  later,  on  the  3d  of  1  December,  1S46. 


286  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xii. 

ment  of  Agassiz,  the  three  or  four  small  paper-covered 
parts  were  far  less  important  in  regard  to  the  quality, 
and  even  the  number  of  original  papers,  than  his  "Bul- 
letin de  la  Societe  d'Histoire  Naturelle  de  Neuchatel," 
issued  in  a  very  small  town  of  one  of  the  smallest  can- 
tons of  Switzerland.  The  disappointment  to  one  who, 
a  few  months  before,  under  the  dome  of  the  Mazarin 
Palace,  had  received  a  Monthyon  prize  of  physiology 
from  the  Royal  Institute  of  France,  may  be  easily 
understood.  As  a  compensation,  Markoe  took  Agassiz 
to  the  rooms  of  the  Institute,  and  showed  him  the  large 
and  important  collections  made  by  Captain  Wilkes  dur- 
ing his  scientific  expedition  round  the  world,  from  1838 
to  1842.  He  was  more  especially  impressed  by  the 
extraordinarily  beautiful  and  exact  drawings  of  fishes, 
reptiles,  molluscs,  and  corals,  executed  from  life  during 
the  expedition  by  Mr.  Drayton,  by  far  the  best  artist  of 
natural  history  objects  in  America. 

Until  this  time,  all  exploring  expeditions  into  the 
interior  of  the  United  States,  sent  at  the  expense  of 
government,  from  the  journeys  of  Lewis  and  Clarke, 
Pike,  Major  Long,  Nicolet,  Featherstonhaugh,  D.  D. 
Owen,  to  those  of  Captain  Fremont,  had  had  their 
reports  rather  meagrely  published  in  regard  to  plates 
and  natural  history  drawings.  Congress  always  voted 
liberal  sums  to  defray  the  expense  of  these  publications, 
but  they  were  at  that  time  all  done  by  contract,  fall- 
ing as  spoils  into  the  hands  of  politicians;  and  the 
result  was  the  issue  of  reports  disgraceful  as  re- 
gards material  execution  —  bad  type,  bad  drawings,  bad 
paper  —  a    state    of    things    most    discouraging   to    all 


1846-47]       CAPTAIN  WILKES  EXPEDITION.  287 

the  explorers  and  %  savants  connected  with  the  govern- 
ment. 

In  order  to  remedy  such  a  condition,  all  the  reports 
of  the  Wilkes  Exploring  Expedition  were  placed  under 
the  direction  of  one  man,  Mr.  Drayton,  who  super- 
intended the  whole  publication.  But,  going  from  one 
extreme  to  another,  the  Senate,  which  made  the  law,  in- 
serted in  it  a  provision  by  which  the  number  of  copies  of 
each  volume  was  limited  to  two  hundred,  and  distributed 
exclusively  to  senators ;  while  of  Captain  Fremont's  re- 
port, issued  in  1845,  ten  thousand  extra  copies  were 
printed  for  the  use  of  the  members  of  Congress.  The 
immense  difference  between  two  hundred  and  ten  thou- 
sand copies  is  evident.  The  result  was  that  Wilkes's 
reports,  being  placed  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  sena- 
tors, no  one  of  whom  was  a  scientific  man,  or  had  suf- 
ficient knowledge  of  natural  history  to  appreciate  their 
value  but  distributed  them  simply  on  account  of  the 
beautiful  plates,  became  extremely  rare  from  the  very 
first.  Half  of  the  number  of  copies  was  soon  entirely 
lost,  and  some  of  the  reports  were  destroyed  in  a  fire  at 
the  printing  establishment,  so  that  now  several  of  the 
great  quarto  volumes  and  folio  atlases  of  the  expedition 
have  become  so  scarce  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
get  copies  at  any  price. 

The  report  of  Fremont,  which  was  defective  only  in 
good  execution,  was  furnished  with  poor  engravings,  poor 
plates  of  fossils,  poor  paper,  and  printed  from  indifferent 
type.  When  Agassiz  received  at  Washington,  from 
the  hands  of  Colonel  Abert,  chief  of  Topographic  Engi- 
neers, Fremont's  report  and  those  of   Nicolet,  Abeii's 


288  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xii. 

son,  D.  D.  Owen,  and  Featherstonhaugh,  he  immedi- 
ately saw  that  a  great  reform  was  needed  to  give  their 
true  value  to  all  these  government  reports  and  publica- 
tions. On  the  one  hand,  Wilkes's  report  was  lost  to  the 
scientific  public  by  its  scarcity  and  the  mode  of  distri- 
bution ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  Fremont's  report  and 
others  of  the  same  sort  were  so  badly  executed  that 
they  were  a  disgrace  to  the  country. 

From  this  moment  Agassiz  began  to  urge  constantly 
on  those  in  power  at  Washington  the  necessity  laid  upon 
the  United  States  government  to  publish  only  well-exe- 
cuted volumes,  especially  in  regard  to  plates  of  natural 
history  and  landscape  drawings.  He  himself  set  the  ex- 
ample in  1850  in  publishing  his  important  exploration  of 
Lake  Superior.  His  efforts,  combined  with  the  power- 
ful help  of  Professor  Bache  and  of  Professor  Henry, 
succeeded  in  bringing  about  a  much  better  state  of 
things  after  1853,  as  we  shall  see.  But  it  was  during 
his  first  visit  to  Washington,  in  1846,  that  he  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  improvement  of  the  government 
scientific  publications. 

As  soon  as  Agassiz  was  back  in  Boston,  he  again 
devoted  himself  to  his  practice  of  learning  English 
phrases  by  heart,  and  speaking  aloud  in  English  in  his 
room  in  order  to  be  able  to  deliver  his  first  course  of 
lectures  before  the  Lowell  Institute.  The  subject  was 
"  The  Plan  of  the  Creation,  especially  in  the  Animal 
Kingdom."  It  is  not  surprising  that  he  was  much 
concerned  about  his  first  lecture  at  the  beginning  of 
December ;  for  it  was  not  an  easy  task  to  set  forth,  in  a 
language  which  he  had  never  before  used  in  public,  one 


1846-47-]  FIRST  LECTURE  AT  BOSTON.  289 

of  the  most  difficult  and  complicated  questions  of  natural 
history,  but  he  was  so  full  of  his  subject  that  he  trusted 
to  his  power  to  enrapture  his  very  large  audience  of  fif- 
teen hundred  persons  of  both  sexes  and  of  all  ages. 
Sometimes  words  were  not  at  his  command,  and  he 
would  pause  and  wait  patiently,  with  his  peculiar  smile 
and  beaming  eyes,  so  characteristic  of  the  man,  in  the 
meantime  amusing  his  audience  by  drawing  on  the 
blackboard  excellent  outlines  of  animals.  His  French 
accent  was  considered  a  new  charm  added  to  his  other 
personal  accomplishments ;  and  he  stepped  down  from 
the  platform  in  a  burst  of  applause,  which  plainly 
showed  that  he  had  succeeded  in  his  rather  hazardous 
undertaking. 

Until  then  he  had  never  seen  a  scientific  lecture 
delivered  before  so  many  people.  The  largest  audi- 
ences he  had  seen  were  in  Paris  at  the  lecture-rooms 
of  the  College  de  France  and  the  Jardin  des  Plantes, 
when  George  Cuvier  was  the  lecturer,  and  at  the  Astro- 
nomical Observatory,  when  Francois  Arago  was  explain- 
ing the  "  Systeme  du  Monde '  before  such  listeners  as 
Alexander  von  Humboldt,  Biot,  Leverier,  and  a  whole 
crowd  of  members  of  the  French  Institute.  In  those 
days  three  or  four  hundred  persons  at  most  crowded 
the  Paris  lecture-rooms,  but  the  fifteen  hundred  auditors 
of  the  Lowell  Institute  room  surpassed  everything  he 
had  ever  thought  of.  Making  a  large  allowance  for 
the  curiosity  which  attracted  many  persons,  there  re- 
mained enough  to  satisfy,  and  even  more  than  satisfy, 
his  most  sanguine  expectations.  For  the  first  time  he 
understood  that  very  characteristic  feature  of  American 
u 


290  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xii. 

life,  —  public  lectures.  He  was  impressed  by  the  seri- 
ousness of  his  listeners,  although  he  knew  well  that 
only  a  small  part  of  the  audience  was  able  to  under- 
stand the  full  meaning  of  what  he  said ;  but  it  was  very 
encouraging  to  see  so  many  ladies  and  gentlemen  of 
the  world  ignorant,  almost  all  of  them,  of  the  first  ele- 
ments of  natural  history,  listening  attentively  to  what 
he  had  to  saw  It  showed  a  desire  to  learn,  or  at  least 
to  be  instructed  on  points  in  regard  to  which  very 
few  of  them  before  entering;  the  lecture-room  had 
the  least  knowledge.  It  was  a  revelation  to  him, 
which  from  that  day  caused  a  great  change  not  only 
in  his  scientific  life,  but  also  in  his  social  and  family 
habits. 

It  is  fortunate  for  the  progress  of  science,  to  which 
Agassiz  contributed  so  largely  during  his  twenty  years 
of  work  in  Europe,  that  he  did  not  begin  his  scientific 
life  in  America,  for  his  extraordinary  ability  as  a 
teacher  would  have  absorbed  all  his  time.  To  be  sure, 
he  would  have  popularized  natural  history,  by  a  con- 
stant contact,  of  forty-five  years'  duration,  with  the 
general  mass  of  the  American  people ;  but  he  would 
never  have  undertaken  his  "  Poissons  fossiles,"  and 
many  other  of  his  original  works.  Although  his  first 
course  of  lectures  in  America,  at  the  Lowell  Institute, 
was  a  success,  Agassiz  felt  that  a  part  of  his  power  was 
paralyzed,  in  a  great  degree,  by  the  difficulty  he  expe- 
rienced in  using  the  English  language.  For  a  man  who 
was  a  good  scholar  in  Latin,  in  Greek,  in  French,  and 
in  German,  it  was  painful  to  realize  how  incorrect  his 
English  was,  and  it  was  a  great  regret  to  him  not  to  be 


1846-47-]  A    COURSE  IN  FRENCH.  291 

able  to  display  all  his  resources  and  his  unequalled  talent 
as  a  teacher  "  hors  ligne." 

His  friends  in  Boston  and  Cambridge  understood  this 
feeling,  and,  at  their  request,  Agassiz  delivered,  before 
a  select  audience,  a  series  of  lectures  on  "  Les  glaciers 
et  l'epoque  glaciaire,"  in  French,  his  native  language. 
At  that  time,  the  number  of  persons  in  Boston  and 
Cambridge  who  knew  enough  French  to  follow  a 
lecture  in  that  language  was  limited.  However,  the 
subscription  list  was  large,  the  ladies  outnumbering  the 
gentlemen,  and  according  to  his  own  account  it  was 
the  best  course  of  lectures  he  ever  delivered.  The  sub- 
ject was  entirely  new  in  America;  the  illustrations  were 
excellent  and  most  attractive  for  the  time,  and  the 
delivery  in  correct  and  even  elegant  French.  It  was  a 
rare  treat  to  every  one,  from  the  lecturer  himself  to 
almost  all  his  listeners,  the  most  enthusiastic  being 
the  ladies,  who  were  lost  in  admiration  of  the  Alpine 
glaciers,  Alpine  peaks,  Jura  boulders,  "  roches  mouton- 
nees,"  and  "  cailloux  stries,"  and,  indeed,  of  the  Pro- 
fessor. 

After  these  two  courses  of  lectures,  Agassiz  became  a 
great  favourite  in  Boston  society,  and  he  remained  such 
until  the  end  of  his  life.  He  had  conquered  the  "elite' 
of  Boston  and  Cambridge,  as  well  as  the  common  people, 
not  only  of  Boston,  but  of  Massachusetts  and  even  of 
New  England;  for  his  lectures  were  published  at  once, 
and  almost  in  extenso  in  newspapers. 

During  the  delivery  of  his  Boston  lectures,  his  favour- 
ite pupil  at  Neuchatel,  Frank  de  Pourtales,  had  joined 
him,  the  first  of  Agassiz's  European  scientific  friends  to 


292  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xii. 

come  to  this  country,  attracted  by  his  glowing  accounts 
in  his  private  letters  from  America.  The  addition  of 
Pourtales,  who  had  independent  means,  was  important, 
for  Agassiz  did  not  have  to  provide  for  his  support,  and 
he  was  greatly  assisted  by  him,  when  he  settled  at  East 
Boston. 

After  repeating  his  Lowell  lectures  at  Albany,  before 
a  very  sympathetic  audience,  Agassiz  and  Pourtales 
embarked  at  New  York  for  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 
The  reception  they  received  was  particularly  gratifying. 
Everything  possessed  a  charm  unknown  to  Agassiz 
until  then,  and  it  was  the  first  time  that  he  came  in 
contact  with  a  sub-tropical  fauna  and  flora.  Besides, 
the  broad  and  generous  hospitality  of  the  planters 
attracted  him  much,  and  Agassiz  and  Pourtales  were 
both  glad  to  meet  gentlemen,  coming  from  their  common 
stock  of  French  and  Swiss  Protestants,  like  de  Saussure, 
Ravenel,  and  others,  or  Dr.  Fabre,  an  old  Swabe 
student  of  the  University  of  Tubingen.  But  the  man 
who  particularly  pleased  them  was  Dr.  Holbrook,  a  her- 
petologist  of  talent,  one  of  the  rare  zoologists  of  the  New 
World,  and  at  the  same  time  a  most  amiable  and  ser- 
viceable man. 

Agassiz  delivered  a  course  of  lectures,  with  the  same 
success  as  before  the  Lowell  Institute,  which  made  him 
at  once  a  great  favourite  in  Southern  society.  Estab- 
lished with  Pourtales  on  one  of  the  islands  near  Charles- 
ton, he  was  in  perfect  ecstasy  over  his  daily  discoveries 
of  new  fishes,  new  turtles,  new  molluscs.  The  rich 
entomological  fauna  was  also  a  constant  surprise.  But 
what  made  the  greatest  impression  on  him  as  a  natu- 


1846-47-]     OBSERVATION  ON  THE  NEGROES.  293 

ralist  was  his  contact  with  a  large  population  of  negroes. 
With  his  power  of  comparing  zoological  characters,  it 
was  impossible  for  him  to  consider  the  black  man  as  a 
species  identical  with  the  white  man.  To  one  who 
considered  not  only  the  species,  but  even  the  genus,  as 
natural  divisions,  whatever  the  system  of  classification 
adopted,  the  conclusion  was  irresistible. 

One  of  his  last  lectures,  just  before  leaving  Neuchatel, 
was  on  the  geographical  distribution  of  animals  ("  Notice 
sur  la  geographie  des  animaux,"  "  Revue  Suisse,"  avril, 
1845),  m  which  he  had  insisted  that  every  animal  and 
plant  is  confined  to  a  certain  portion  of  the  earth, 
while  man  is  the  only  one  which  covers  the  whole 
surface.  As  he  says,  "  L'homme,  malgre  la  diversite 
de  ses  races,  constitue  une  seule  et  meme  espece  sur 
toute  la  surface  du  globe."  It  was  hard  for  him  to 
abandon  this  view ;  but  he  was  too  thorough  a  natu- 
ralist, and  had  a  too  exalted  idea  of  the  immutability 
of  species,  like  his  master,  Cuvier,  to  believe  in  only 
races  for  man.  After  his  first  visit  to  South  Carolina, 
species,  in  his  eyes,  existed  for  man  as  well  as  for  every 
other  genus.  That  is  to  say  that  the  genus  homo  is 
composed  of  several  species;  for  instance,  the  Caucasian 
or  white  man  is  one  species,  with  many  varieties  or 
races,  such  as  the  Arabs,  Indians,  Turks,  Scandinavians, 
Irish,  Slavic,  Greeks,  Italians,  etc.  The  negro  is  an- 
other species  with  many  races  or  varieties,  such  as  the 
Hottentots,  the  Soudans,  the  Congos,  the  Zambesi, 
etc.  But  it  would  be  erroneous  to  conclude,  from  his 
opinion  as  a  naturalist,  that  he  was  in  favour  o\  slavery. 
This  was  an  abyss  which   he  never  crossed.     The  pas- 


294  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xii. 

sionate  and  bitter  discussions,  which  already  agitated 
and  divided  the  South  from  the  North,  had  no  influence 
on  him,  and  he  never  took  part  in  them,  directly  or  in- 
directly. It  is  true  that  several  politicians  of  the  time 
made  use  of  his  opinions  for  their  own  selfish  interests, 
but  it  was  impossible  for  Agassiz  to  prevent  it.  Con- 
fining himself  to  a  zoological  point  of  view,  he  admitted 
with  great  sincerity  and  frankness,  that  although  once 
a  believer  in  the  unity  of  the  races  of  man,  he  had  found 
out  that  this  was  an  error,  and  that  his  studies  among 
large  numbers  of  negroes  and  Indians  had  led  him,  as  a 
zoologist,  to  conclude  that  it  was  impossible  to  consider 
them  as  simple  varieties  or  races  of  the  white  man.  In 
his  view,  they  were  entirely  distinct  species,  each, — 
negroes,  American  Indians,  and  Circassians  or  Euro- 
peans, —  possessing  its  peculiar  varieties  or  races. 

But  as  regards  the  servitude  of  one  species  to  another, 
and  the  right  of  one  man  to  sell  another,  Agassiz  never, 
for  an  instant,  justified  such  a  proceeding,  either  mor- 
ally, socially,  or  religiously.  Science  had  nothing  to  do 
with  such  an  iniquity ;  to  deal  with  it  was  the  work  of 
morality,  philanthropy,  politics,  and  religion,  but  not 
of  a  savant,  whose  domain  is  entirely  outside  of  all 
institutions  of  society. 

In  early  spring  Agassiz  returned  to  New  York,  where 
he  met  his  assistants,  Edward  Desor  and  Charles  Girard, 
who  had  left  Paris  in  February,  and  had  embarked 
on  a  sailing-ship  at  Havre,  the  2d  of  March,  1847.  It 
now  became  needful  to  have  a  permanent  establishment 
somewhere ;  and  Agassiz  did  not  hesitate  to  choose 
Boston   as  his   headquarters,  on  account  of  the  great 


1846-47.]     ESTABLISHMENT  AT  EAST  BOSTON:         295 

interest  and  sympathy  shown  to  him  since  the  day  of 
his  arrival  on  American  soil ;  and,  curiously  enough, 
the  house  he  leased  was  only  a  stone's  throw  from  his 
landing-place  at  the  Cunard  wharf. 

Accompanied  by  Pourtales,  Desor,  and  Girard,  he 
came  to  Boston,  early  in  April,  stopping  at  a  boarding- 
house  in  Temple  Place,  preparatory  to  arranging  for 
a  house.  Agassiz  took,  for  one  year,  a  three-storied 
brick  house  at  East  Boston,  close  by  the  sea,  the  tide 
even  entering  the  garden;  where  he  tied  up  a  little 
row-boat,  called,  in  New  England,  a  dory,  as  his  first 
contribution  to  the  furniture  of  his  establishment.  Here 
is  another  example  of  atavism,  in  a  descendant  of  the 
lake-dwelling  peoples  of  Switzerland,  who  were  always 
ready  to  return  to  water,  whenever  occasion  offered. 
He  was  led  to  the  choice  of  this  house,  with  its  rather 
heavy  rent, — one  thousand  dollars  a  yeaj,  —  by  his 
ardent  desire  to  have  a  laboratory  close  by  the  sea, 
where  he  could  get  marine  animals  to  his  heart's  con- 
tent, and  preserve  them  alive. 

It  was  not  easy  for  four  Europeans,  three  of  whom 
spoke  hardly  a  word  of  English,  to  furnish  a  house, 
and  remove  there  all  their  property,  including  books, 
large  diagrams,  and  the  several  barrels  and  boxes  of 
natural  history  specimens  collected  since  Agassiz's 
arrival. 

Before  the  final  arrangement  and  the  removal  t<> 
East  Boston,  the  health  of  Agassiz  broke  down,  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life.  Until  then  fatigue  and  anxiety  of 
all  sorts  had  made  no  impression  on  his  strong  constitu- 
tion; he  seemed  to  be  above  the  reach  of  sickness.      But 


296  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xii. 

the  numerous  exertions  on  many  lines  entirely  different 
from  those  to  which  he  was  accustomed;  the  American 
way  of  living,  so  new  to  him,  added  to  his  great  anxiety 
as  to  his  future,  which  was  still  uncertain ;  all  this  fell 
heavily  upon  him ;  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  a  few  days 
after  his  return  to  Boston  he  was  seized  by  a  severe 
attack  of  nervous  prostration,  a  malady  which  clung  to 
him  from  this  time  to  the  end  of  his  life,  recurring  now 
and  then,  with  an  increase  in  the  frequency  of  its  attacks 
as  he  grew  older,  and  as  he  constantly  and  often  impru- 
dently burdened  himself  with  new  duties. 

By  the  end  of  May  the  settlement  was  achieved ; 
rooms  were  assigned  for  microscopical  studies,  for  the 
dissection  of  animals,  for  the  drawing  of  large  diagrams 
for  public  lectures,  and  the  collections  were  sorted  and 
divided  for  future  distribution.  Every  day  Pourtales 
and  Charles  Girard  went  sailing  in  Boston  harbour, 
dredging  the  bottom  for  specimens ;  or  they  followed 
on  foot  the  edge  of  the  tide  water  on  beautiful  Chelsea 
beach,  picking  up  every  animal  worth  preserving. 

The  originality  of  this  naturalist-home  brought  to 
East  Boston  not  only  all  those  engaged  in  the  study  of 
natural  history,  but  also  many  ladies  and  gentlemen 
curious  to  see  how  practical  zoology  could  be  made. 
Agassiz,  with  his  usual  buoyancy  of  spirit,  and  his  ever- 
ready  desire  to  teach,  showed  the  ladies  how  to  look 
into  the  microscope,  explaining  graphically  the  wonders 
of  each  small  animal.  Then,  turning  to  the  tank  of  salt 
water  always  teeming  with  marine  animals,  he  would 
take  a  fish,  or  a  big  jellyfish  and  explain  its  way  of 
swimming,  or  its   system   of   blood   circulation.      Time 


1846-47-]  ON  BOARD    THE  "BIBB"  297 

passed  quickly,  and  his  visitors  left  him  charmed 
with  what  they  had  heard  and  seen.  Boston  felt  proud 
of  the  acquisition  of  a  naturalist  of  genius,  while  Agassi/ 
was  delighted  to  have  excited  an  interest  among  persons 
so  intelligent  and  refined  in  taste. 

During  the  heat  of  summer,  Mr.  Lowell,  always 
attentive  to  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  Agassiz,  invited 
him  and  his  assistant,  Desor,  as  his  guests,  to  visit 
Niagara  Falls  and  the  great  rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
River.  The  impression  of  this  grand  and  picturesque 
region,  combined  with  the  finding  of  glacial  scratches 
everywhere,  and  the  sight  of  many  zoological  specimens, 
especially  fishes,  created  in  Agassiz  an  admiration  and 
an  enthusiasm  difficult  for  any  one  not  a  naturalist  to 
realize,  and  from  that  moment  he  was  resolute  to  conse- 
crate the  remainder  of  his  life  to  the  study  of  the  natural 
history  of  the  New  World. 

Returning  to  Boston,  he  received  an  invitation  from 
Professor  Bache  to  join  in  a  cruise  along  the  shores  of 
Cape  Cod  and  the  island  of  Nantucket,  on  the  coast- 
survey  steamer  Bibb,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  (after- 
ward Admiral)  Charles  Henry  Davis,  U.  S.  Navy,  who 
was  then  employed  in  surveying  the  bay  of  Boston, — 
an  excursion  which  passed  for  Agassiz  like  a  dream  of 
the  Thousand  and  One  Nights.  In  one  day,  as  he  says, 
he  learned  more  than  in  months  from  books  or  dried 
specimens.  It  was  a  new  opening  for  his  never-ending 
activity  of  spirits  and  schemes.  A  most  intimate  friend- 
ship grew  up  with  both  Professor  Bache  and  Lieutenant 
Davis  from  that  first  cruise,  and  lasted  as  long  as  they 
lived,  and  in  them  Agassiz  found,  not  only  sympathizers, 


298  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xii. 

but  true  patrons  of  scientific  researches,  happy  in  the 
opportunity  to  secure  to  America  the  services  of  such  a 
savant.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Agassiz's  settlement 
in  America  was  due  to  the  kind  reception  and  many 
acts  of  true  friendship  and  admiration  he  received  from 
Mr.  Lowell  and  Professor  Bache. 

Before  his  first  year  in  America  was  over,  a  most 
intimate  friend  of  his  Swiss  family,  M.  Charles  Louis 
Philippe  Christinat,  arrived  at  his  house  in  East  Boston. 
Victim  of  a  political  revolution  in  the  Canton  de  Vaud, 
Christinat,  for  many  years  a  minister  in  the  village  of 
Montpreveyres,  was  obliged  to  leave  his  parish,  and 
after  wandering  as  an  exile  in  Italy  and  France,  he 
resolved  to  join  his  friend  Agassiz,  and  finish  his  life 
with  him.  He  possessed  the  full  confidence  of  Agassiz's 
mother,  and  the  family  was  very  glad  that  such  a  trusty 
friend  was  willing  to  help  Agassiz  by  his  advice  and  his 
devotion  to  his  person  and  interests ;  for  they  all  knew 
how  much  Agassiz  was  influenced,  and  often  not  in  the 
right  direction,  by  his  secretary  Desor. 

As  soon  as  Christinat  arrived,  at  the  end  of  Septem- 
ber, 1847,  Agassiz,  who  remembered  how  devoted  Chris- 
tinat had  always  been  to  him  since  his  childhood,  going 
so  far  as  to  supply  his  always  empty  pocket  with  money 
in  order  that  he  might  make  his  much-desired  journey 
to  Paris,  felt  that  he  had  at  last  near  him  a  man  whom 
he  could  fully  trust.  It  was  a  great  relief  to  his  mind. 
His  relations  with  Desor  were  no  longer  as  friendly  as 
they  had  formerly  been  at  Neuchatel.  When  they  met 
again  in  April,  after  an  eight  months'  separation,  Agassiz 
saw  at  once  a  great  change  in  Desor's  manner,  and  more 


1846-47-]      DIFFICULTIES  WITH  IHS  SECRETARY.      299 

especially  in  his  way  of  talking.     He  had   left  him  in 
Paris  his  secretary  and  assistant,  and  he  found  him  at 
New  York  his  associate  and  collaborator,  with  a  certain 
air  of  domination  which  extended  even  to  every  act  of 
his  private  life.     Passionate  and  painful  discussions  fol- 
lowed one  another  in  rapid  succession ;    and  although 
they  all  ended  in  reconciliation,  they  were  but  the  begin- 
ning of  most  serious  difficulties.     It  was   evident  that 
Desor's  prolonged  sojourn  at  Paris,  during  which  he  had 
assumed  the  joint  authorship  of  one  of  Agassiz's  publi- 
cations, and  his  journey  in  Scandinavia — at  the  expense 
of    Agassiz,  who  found   the  amount   of    one   thousand 
dollars    a   little    hard    to    pay    back   to    his    banker   in 
his  already  straitened  pecuniary  position  —  had  given 
him   a   somewhat  exalted  opinion  of   his  scientific  and 
social  value.     Agassiz  was  much  hurt  by  this  new  de- 
meanour of  his  secretary ;    it  was  hard  for  him  to  be 
lectured  by  his  own  pupil  both  on  scientific  and  private 
affairs.     He  recalled  the  poor  young  man  who  came  to 
him  at  Neuchatel  at  the  end  of  1837,  not  as  a  naturalist 
of  worth,  but  only  as  an  amanuensis  and  translator,  and 
at  whose  mercy  now,  ten  years  later,  he  found  himself, 
both  scientifically  and  socially.     As  he  himself  said,  it 
was   he   who  brought   the   water  to   turn   the   mill,  for 
Desor  had  never  contributed  a  cent  to  the  constantly 
increasing  expenses. 

The  following  letters  are  presented  to  show  how 
Agassiz  was  always  ready  to  help  and  encourage  a 
young  naturalist;  and  they  allow  me,  at  the  same  time, 
to  define  my  position  with  him.  Being  an  assistant  at 
the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  under  the  direction  of  M.  Cordier, 


300  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xii. 

the  professor  of  geology,  I  was  offered,  as  a  reward  for 
work  done  in  determining  invertebrate  fossils  at  the 
Museum,  a  journey  of  three  years'  duration,  outside  of 
Europe,  with  my  own  choice  as  regarded  the  country  to 
be  explored.  My  acquaintance  with  Agassiz  led  me  to 
choose  North  America,  and  I  wrote  him  asking  if  he 
would  help  me  by  his  advice,  and  tell  me  his  plans 
for  explorations  during   1848.     His  answer  follows:  — 

Boston,  30  septembre,  1847. 
Monsieur  Jules  Marcou, 

Paris. 

Mon  cher  monsieur,  —  Ne  pouvant  ecrire  aujourd'hui  a  M .  Cordier, 
ni  vous  donner  de  quelques  semaines  une  esquisse  arrete  de  mes 
projets  de  voyage  pour  Tannee  prochaine  et  ne  voulant  cependant 
pas  vous  laisser  attendre  une  reponse  a  la  demande  que  vous 
m'adressez  de  venir  rejoindre  aux  Etats-Unis,  le  trio  de  travailleurs 
que  vous  avez  connu  a  Paris,  je  me  bornerai  pour  le  moment  a  vous 
dire  en  termes  generaux  que  je  serai  charme  de  vous  associer  a  ce 
que  je  puis  faire  dans  ce  pays.  Je  sais  trop  bien  tout  ce  quil  reste 
a  faire  dans  tous  les  domaines  de  la  science  pour  redouter  le  con- 
cours  d'efforts  combines  dans  un  meme  but ;  bien  au  contraire  je  crois 
que  les  resultats  scientifiques,  que  notre  petite  troupe  pourra  obtenir 
seront  d'autant  plus  considerables  quelle  s'associera  un  plus  grand 
nombre  de  bons  observateurs  ;  et  comme  je  n'ai  aucun  penchant 
a  m'approprier  les  observations  d'autrui,  vous  pouvez  etre  assure 
d'avance  que  quelqu'importantes  ou  quelqu'insignifiantes  que  puis- 
sent  etre  les  decouvertes  que  vous  ferez  dans  ces  peregrinations 
communes,  elles  vous  seront  bien  duement  acquises,  et  vous  reste- 
ront  en  plein  et  sans  partage,  meme  dans  le  cas  ou  elles  auraient  ete 
amenees  par  des  recherches  que  j'aurais  pu  vous  suggerer.  C'est 
sur  de  telles  bases  seulement  que  je  concois  des  rapports  durables 
entre  hommes  devoues  a  la  science. 

Quant  a  mes  projets  prochains,  j'ai  l'intention  de  visiter  cet  hiver 
les  Carolines  et  de  revenir  pour  le  mois  de  fevrier  a  Boston,  pour 


1846-47-]  LETTER   TO   J.  MARCO U.  301 

me  preparer  a  une  course  dans  POuest.  Je  desire  consacrer  une 
bonne  partie  de  Pete  a  Pexploration  des  bords  du  Lac  Superieur  et 
de  la  vallee  du  Mississippi,  comme  preparation  a  une  seconde  course 
au-dela.  de  ce  fleuve,  dans  la  direction  des  Montagues  Rocheuses. 
Les  ressources  dont  je  pourrai  disposer  ne  me  permettent  pas  de 
songer  a  passer  Phiver  dans  une  sorte  d'inaction,  loin  des  grandes 
villes,  011  je  puis  par  quelques  lecons  acquerir  de  quoi  poursuivre 
mes  recherches.  Je  crois  de  plus  qu"il  est  plus  avantageux  de  cou- 
per  ainsi  en  deux  temps  une  exploration  de  POuest  dont  la  premiere 
campagne  servira  de  reconnaissance  et  de  point  de  depart  pour  la 
seconde.  Puis  il  y  a  dans  Petat  de  POhio  plusieurs  collections  qui 
meritent  d'etre  etudiees  et  dont  Pexamen  nous  evitera  des  travaux 
inutiles,  et  nous  fournira  des  points  de  repair.  Meme  ici  a  Boston, 
mais  surtout  a  Albany,  vous  pourriez  consacrer  bien  des  mois  utile- 
ment  a  vous  preparer,  car  il  vous  sera  difficile,  malgre  les  publica- 
tions des  geologues  de  New  York,  de  vous  faire  une  juste  ide'e  de 
Petendue  des  travaux,  en  grande  partie  inedits,  qui  ont  6te  faits 
dans  ces  contrees.  Dans  ce  moment  deux  caravanes  de  ge'ologues 
explorent  les  etats  de  Michigan  et  de  Wisconsin.  Aussi  plutot 
vous  pourrez  venir  et  mieux,  et  surtout  ayez  a  votre  disposition  des 
ressources  pecuniaires  suffisantes,  car  pour  la  depense  les  dollars 
sont  a  peu  pres  pour  nous  ce  que  les  francs  etaient  a  Paris,  avec  un 
genre  de  vie  qui  est  a  peu  pres  le  meme. 

Ces  renseignements  preliminaires  vous  permettront  de  faire  vos 
preparatifs  sans  delai ;  des  que  je  le  pourrai,  je  vous  ccrirai  d1une 
maniere  plus  precise  a.  quoi  je  compte  nParreter  definitivement  pour 
Pannee  prochaine,  et  j'ecrirai  en  outre  a  M.  Cordier  pour  Passurer 
que  les  interets  du  Museum  ne  courront  aucun  risque  si  vous  venez 
me  joindre.  Je  n'en  veux  de  meilleure  preuve  que  le  fait  que  j'ai  deja 
mis  spontanement  de  cote  une  assez  jolie  collection  de  fossiles  pale'- 
ozoiques  que  je  destine  au  Jardin  des  Plantes  et  qui  seraient  deja 
partis  pour  PEurope  n'etait  Pennui  de  Pemballage. 

Je  vous  remercie  de  tous  les  soins  que  vous  avez  mis  a  Pimpres- 
sion  des  Echinodermes  (Catalogue  raisonne)  et  a  la  redaction  d'un 
registre  de  la  distribution  ge'ologique,  addenda,  etc. ;  ce  sont  de- 
additions  qui  seront  tres  utiles,  je  pense. 

Adieu,  mon  cher  Monsieur;  croyez  a  la  sincerhe  de  Pintcict  que 


3o2  LOUIS  AGASSIZ.  [chap.  xii. 

je  vous  porte  et  que  votre  zele  pour  la  geologie  justifie  si  complete- 

ment. 

Votre  devoue, 

Ls.  Agassiz. 

In  another  letter,  dated  New  York,  14  November, 
1847,  ne  says  :  — 

Desor  est  reste  a.  Boston  pour  le  moment ;  Charles,  dont  je  suis 
assez  content,  est  ici  avec  moi ;  Pourtales  m'accompagne  dans  le 
Sud  avec  mon  dessinateur.  Nous  ferons  de  la  bonne  besogne,  je 
crois,  et  malgre  la  difficulte  de  gagner  ma  vie  en  faisant  des  cours 
depuis  que  je  suis  au  terme  de  mes  subsides  de  Berlin,  tout  va  son 
train,  corame  devant,  et  je  suis  loin  de  songer  a  reduire  Tetendue  de 
mes  recherches  pour  peu  que  je  puisse  continuer  a.  suffire  a  toute  cette 
dcpense  a  force  de  travail.  Adieu,  mon  cher  ami,  venez  bien  vite 
et  je  crois  que  vous  serez  content  de  ce  pays. 

Tout  a.  vous, 

Ls.  Agassiz. 


END   OF  VOLUME   I. 


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